How To Tangle Four Brave Guardians
by Arwen Eledel
Summary: "And again he heard the whistle, the singing and the twang!, only that now they were accompanied by a distant laughter. His laughter." Not your average ROTBTD story – the four meet in different circumstances and ally to protect a surprising someone and to defeat the most unlikely – or at least unexpected – villain. No pairings safe for canonical ones.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Come on, Jack," called Jamie, "it's story time!"

"Coming!" cried his five-year-old son rushing to the bedroom and jumped in his bed. "I'm ready!" he grinned. His father laughed and picked up a book of fairytales.

"Is 'Rapunzel' okay?" he asked, Jack nodded and Jamie started reading the story of the girl with long golden hair.

Jack Frost was watching through the window smiling. It was really nice of Jamie's to name his son after him! The Guardian had always been there, beside his first believer. But even though Jamie still believed, he was preoccupied with his family and Jack was feeling kinda left out. Sure, he had the other Guardians but… something was missing. Jack sighed, then shook it off and tried to smile – Jamie had told him about the lunar eclipse that night which would be interesting. The guardian wanted to believe him, but a feeling of uneasiness had crept in the back of his mind and wouldn't leave. But creepy or not, the eclipse was about to start, so Jack silently bid the family goodbye and flew to the roof.

He sat there and looked up to the moon whose light was slowly beginning to dim. "Why am I so lonely?" he asked. "I don't get it, I have Jamie, the other kids, the Guardians, but there's still… a hole. Please, tell me… tell me why…" But the pale sphere was silent, reddening ever so slowly. Soon it would be fully eclipsed.

Jack sighed. "Just send me a sign that I won't be alone forever, okay?"

He didn't notice that the last silver rays cast not one but four shadows behind him. And after a moment it was too late – there was no more light that could show him the shades, for the eclipse was full.

 **A/N: That's for the short prologue. The story won't be Jack-centered, even though it may seem so at first. Constructive criticism is highly appreciated, especially if it's about characters being OOC. I'll be updating weekly on Thursdays.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the characters you don't know of, everything else belongs to its rightful owners.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Jack was thinking about the fairytale of the girl with long golden hair, which had gotten stuck in his head for no apparent reason, when a group of tourists caught his attention. Not the people themselves, more like it was their accent. It was very thick, it sounded like Irish or British or…

Something in his head clicked. _Scottish_. The accent was Scottish. But why on Earth did it feel so… so close?

Jack shrugged it off though, he decided that it reminded him of North's or Bunnymund's accent. He flew past the people on the street, overhearing parts of their conversations.

"At least you got right the question about the invasions – for me the test on the Vikings is a total failure!"

"Honey, it's time to give yourself a haircut, have you decided to resemble Rapunzel? Cause that's _so_ last season."

"No, I didn't take the pizza, it wasn't ready!"

"Sure, I"ll buy you a book about witches…"

"Where's that art shop again?"

"I heard she's broken up with Angus as well as…"

"They have yak farms in Tibet, can you believe it?!"

"Yes, I've got the tickets, see ya there!"

"Look, Kate, daddy made me a helmet!"

"This is my new pet, isn't he cute?"

"And he claimed that he was born in the year of the dragon, as if!..."

Finally at Jamie's yard, Jack wondered why there were so many people out in town today. And, more importantly, what was that feeling that clicked when he heard the Scottish accent? Now that he thought about it, he'd had the same feeling yesterday when he was observing the little family, when Jamie was reading that book about… What was her name again…

"Jack! Glad to see you!" Jamie was walking down the stairs with a big box in his hands.

"Hey, Jamie, need a hand?" asked the spirit smiling – the thoughts about the 'click' had vanished.

"No, don't bother, I'm just cleaning the attic a little bit. You won't have vanished by the time I get here one more box, right?"

"You bet I won't." Jack grinned. Jamie cracked a smile and rushed up the stairs.

The Guardian took a look inside the box – books and books alone. He quickly went through them, covering them with a thin layer of frost. At the bottom there were two books that caught his attention. Both didn't have headings, but as one was with plain leather cover, the other was with a drawing of a little girl with startlingly bright violet eyes, jet-black hair tied in two buns and a black teddy-bear. Jack opened it, but the pages were too old to be read. They literally turned to dust at his mere touch, so he took the second one. On the first page there were someone's initials – H.H.H. III. And the thing in his head clicked again.

The spirit looked at the three identical letters, feeling a strange warmth filling his heart, as if an old friend had cracked a smile towards him through some thick veil. What on Earth…

"Hey, Jack! Checking the books?" Jamie's voice once again snapped him out of his thoughts. The Guardian nodded and lifted the two books as a proof. Jamie came next to him and took a look at them. "What are these two doing here? They aren't meant for donation!" he said to himself in a puzzled voice, then noticing Jack's look explained: "We decided to donate the unused books to the library, but not _those_ two, only through my dead body! I'm very fond of them." He took them out of the box, then asked: "By the way, Jack, are you good at archery?"

"What, no! I'm the Winter Spirit, remember?" Jamie facepalmed laughing.

"Right! I would've asked you to teach Jack Jr. to shoot an arrow…"

Jack chuckled: "If you're looking for a teacher, Bunnymund would be the best choice, out of the Guardians at least – I really don't think throwing boomerangs is the same as shooting arrows…" They both laughed.

But in the back of Jack's mind still echoed three clicks, three things that felt strangely familiar, strangely close.

Long golden hair. Scottish accent. Triple H.

 **A/N: _Reviews:  
Ugly-Duckling123_: Thank you for the review and the critique, I hope I fixed the chapter accordingly.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Jack had fallen asleep – strange enough for a spirit. What's more, he'd done so on top of Jamie's roof, a borrowed fairytale book left in his lap, open on a particular fairytale.

Rapunzel. The Guardian had finally discovered the blonde girl's name.

He was flying in the cozy darkness of a dreamless sleep, when in front of him appeared the ashen sphere of the moon. But before Jack could say or ask anything, the moonlight grew paler and paler until it was barely visible. Now the moon looked sick, like darkened silver in colour. Then it vanished without a trace, just like it had appeared.

And suddenly he was staring at two pairs of green eyes, different and yet alike, as if they shared one soul. With his side-vision Jack spotted something red and a… prosthetic leg? How'd he manage to see that? Suddenly a loud whistle was heard, as if something was soaring through the sky. Then everything disappeared…

… Just to be replaced by another pair of green eyes, but this time softer, surrounded by a golden glow. Something like fireflies was flying in the background and for a moment he was sure he heard a quiet song, then everything was once again replaced…

… A pair of turquoise eyes were staring back this time and his peripheral vision picked a whole lot of arrows spilled on the ground. Then a _twang!_ was heard, as if a bow's string was released, and everything was gone.

Jack was left in the dark alone with his thoughts, when suddenly…

 _Click!_ Long golden hair.

 _Click!_ Scottish accent.

 _Click!_ Triple H.

The three things – clicks, he'd begun to call them – appeared again and again in his mind until he found himself facing the moon once more.

"Why are you showing me these things?" the Guardian asked. A soft breeze came out of nowhere and turned him around so that he was facing his shadow. Well, kind of…

Jack saw the four shadows this time. And again he heard the whistle, the singing and the _twang!_ , only that now they were accompanied by a distant laughter. _His_ laughter.

And suddenly the spirit was awake.

* * *

"What may this dream mean?" Jack asked. "And when you add those strange thoughts I've had lately…" North just scratched his beard and shrugged.

"I don't know. Might be nothing but I highly doubt it." That's when the younger Guardian noticed something. "We'll have to-"

"Um, North?"

"-ask Sandy, he's guar-"

"North."

"-dian of dreams after a-"

"North!" Jack shouted, finally grabbing the attention of his friend, and pointed to the moon which was shining through the hole in the roof.

"Ah, Man in Moon! Jack, you should've said something earlier!" The winter spirit scoffed. "What's news, old friend?" North asked. The familiar blue rays shone down, but paler than usual.

"Huh. Looks like Manny's sick. Can he catch a cold?" Jack asked.

"Hmm, not likely, someone might be taking his powers…" North trailed off. The moonlight became a hint brighter for a few seconds, then paled again and the old Guardian nodded. "… which is obviously case. Who's it, Manny?" But the rays were shining peacefully, not forming any shadows on the floor. The two Guardians exchanged a confused and alarmed look – if Man in Moon himself didn't know who was taking his powers, things were pretty serious. Then the winter spirit pointed to the floor, where the moonlight had formed the shadow of… a clock?

"But what does that mean?" he wondered aloud.

North answered, his voice unsure: "Someone in past… But what are we supposed to do from present?"

Suddenly Jack let out a cry, once again pointing to the floor where the blue rays had drawn the same four shadows that the young Guardian had already seen. North looked at them curiously. "These are shadows from your dream, no?" Jack nodded, letting North continue. "This is your shadow, see? I think…" he trailed off; the winter spirit eyed him, wondering what was going on inside his head. Then the other's sudden yell startled him. "Yes! I got it! This is your shadow – so you have to help Manny. Three more shadows – three more people you find to do it. And clock – they're in past! Just like villain! And your dream, and clicks – all adds up!"

Jack had to agree but one thing still wasn't clear. "How am I supposed to go to the past?" North just smiled and pointed at the pedestal that was rising from the moonlit floor. Only it didn't present a new Guardian this time – out of the blue (rather, out of the blue moonlight) a silver pendant appeared, carved in the form of a crescent moon. The winter spirit took it carefully and looked at North, who nodded.

"I'm coming, Manny!" Jack whispered. He then put on the pendant and suddenly wasn't at the North Pole anymore.

 **A/N: And there he goes! Where would Jack find himself, what do you think?**

 **Just so you know, there will be both long and short chapters, but no fillers if I can help it, so there'll be** ** _something_** **happening each chapter.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The first thing Jack heard was the same loud whistle from his dream. It seemed as if the flying thing had gone right above him. Desperate to find out more about it, the Guardian followed the sound barely noticing the surroundings – wooden houses and people in weird clothing concentrated in their own business. Finally, he got to one seemingly bigger house in the upper end of the village and before he even had time to wonder what to do now, a skinny brunette boy turned round the corner and entered the house, saying to someone: "Just wait out here, bud, I'll take them." But he'd already drawn Jack's attention to himself – or to his peg leg, to be precise. The spirit quietly got inside and found the brunette searching around, mumbling to himself: "Oh, for the love of… Where are they? I'm sure there were at least twenty left!"

A sudden growl caught the attention of both boys. They turned around and Jack found himself facing… a real dragon?! "What the…?!" he cried and got out as fast as possible. The suspicious growl, however, followed him so he ran – well, _flew_ – inside the forest. He dodged branches and tree trunks until eventually he found himself in a clearing – a small cove with a lake. But if he'd considered it a good hiding spot, he was wrong – not a minute later a large black shape landed behind and a voice demanded: "Who are you?" Astonished, Jack turned around, ready to ask if the owner of the voice – probably the brunette – could _really_ see him…

… And suddenly he was staring at two pairs of green eyes, different and yet alike, as if they shared one soul. With his side-vision Jack spotted that the boy _did_ have a prosthetic and the dragon – an artificial red tailfin?

"Stop staring, who in Thor's name are you?" Oops, the boy was becoming impatient.

"Erm, I'm Jack Frost." The boy scoffed.

"Yeah, and I'm a Monstrous Nightmare."

"But I really am!" Jack tried again, growing worried – sure, he was immortal, but who knows what a dragon's fire could do to him. Meanwhile, said dragon growled suspiciously and wrapped his tail around the boy protectively. But the boy patted his head and softly murmured: "Easy, bud." He then turned to the spirit and said firmly: "Prove it. Prove you're Jack Frost."

A relieved smirk made its way to Jack's face. He lifted his staff and stomped it to the ground, making a blast of wind toss the boy towards his dragon. Then the young Guardian stepped on the lake's surface, immediately freezing a little spot around him. After les than a minute of walking the lake was completely frozen. Jack perched himself onto his staff and laughed at the boy's expression. "So you believe me now, huh?"

The brunette quickly shut his mouth and exclaimed: "Oh, gods, that was amazing!" The Guardian chuckled and sent a snowflake flying. It landed on the dragon's nose, making it sneeze. The black creature looked at Jack disapprovingly.

"Oops… Good dragon…" Jack tried, but the creature gritted its teeth. Jack turned to the boy. "Uh, help?"

"Oh, er, yeah, right…" the boy quickly moved between the dragon and the Guardian. "Alright bud, calm down, he's a friend…" he spoke softly, then turned around with a crooked smile. "So, Jack, this is Toothless." 'Toothless' growled, still suspicious, and revealed razor sharp teeth. Jack tensed a bit.

"What kind of name is that?! As far as I can see, he's pretty toothy!"

"Relax," the boy chuckled, "he's not dangerous. And his teeth…" he growled playfully at the dragon, the dragon did the same and suddenly the teeth disappeared. "… are retractable. See?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, cool, a question if I may. How are you still alive and not eaten by… by Toothless?"

The boy scratched his neck. "Well, I-I trained him, though he didn't make an attempt to eat me in the first place…"

"So you're a dragon trainer, is that it?"

"Pretty much…"

Suddenly, Jack facepalmed. "And I didn't even ask you your name, sorry! So, who might you be, oh, great dragon conqueror?" The boy tensed.

"Don't call me that… And it's Hiccup. Great name, I know."

The spirit chuckled at his sarcasm, then complained: "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me, such a great dragon conqueror must have a suitable name!" The boy rolled his eyes.

"I think I told you not to call me that. And if you must know, my full name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, but I don't like it, so don't you dare bring it up again."

Something clicked in Jack's head. "That's… tripple H…" Hiccup shrugged, obviously not finding it a big deal.

But Jack smirked victoriously, knowing full well that he'd found one of the three people he'd come to look for.


	5. Chapter 4

"So…" Hiccup trailed off, "how come only Toothless and I can see you?"

They'd gone around the island but no one had noticed the winter spirit. Now the two boys were sitting in Hiccup's room and asking each other questions under the watchful eyes of Toothless who'd finally agreed that Jack wasn't an enemy.

"Well…" The Guardian didn't really know how to explain. "…You two are special."

Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows. "Why?"

Jack sighed. "Look, I don't really know why either, I'm just assuming. I only know that I gotta help Manny, that's Man in Moon, and he gave me some clues and a few apply to you."

"Like?"

"Erm, there were four shadows, one of which mine, and I just figured the second was yours, then I had a dream or a vision, you name it, and it started off with two pairs of green eyes that just so happened to be yours and Toothless', and a loud whistle which is the first thing I heard when I got here and I also saw something red which I now assume is your dragon's tailfin, then there's that thing that clicked in my head when I saw a triple H back in my time and it clicked again when you said your name which has this triple H. Oh, and I saw a peg leg that's exactly the same as yours." Hiccup nodded, somehow managing to find sense in his rant, but before he could say anything, Jack butt in: "Speaking of your prosthetic, there must be quite the story about it, care to explain?"

Suddenly growing uncomfortable, Hiccup started: "Well, Vikings and dragons used to be enemies here… Killing a dragon was the only thing that mattered and, erm, and yours truly was the worst Viking Berk had ever seen. I tried to prove myself to the others… Didn't work, as you can guess – I was _way_ too muscular for their taste…" Even though the brunette was sarcastic, Jack caught a hint of bitterness in his voice and couldn't help but feel a bit sad – after all, he too had experienced rejection. "Then one night I actually shot down a Night Fury – the ultimate prize, the dragon of all dragons, if I may say. He was helpless, I could've killed him and all my trouble would've vanished. But I couldn't. I _wouldn't_."

"Why?" Jack asked quietly, glancing at the now sleeping Toothless. His rider smiled unknowingly.

"I looked at him… and I saw myself." He expected the Guardian to ask, but the latter just nodded and gestured for him to continue. "We became friends but my-my dad wasn't very fond of it…" His eyes darkened for a moment. "Anyway, he and the whole village went to fight the dragons on their island and when they were faced with the Red Death… Well, you-you can sorta imagine what happened, my leg being cut of in the explosion and all…"

But the quick ending didn't satisfy Jack. "Wait, wait, I think you're missing on a whole part of the story! What Red Death, what explosion?"

Hiccup sighed. "The Red Death was the queen bee of the dragons' nest, it was all her who made them raid our village for food. She was controlling them and was going to kill my father and the whole tribe so… Toothless and I shot her down. But there was an explosion, her club tail hit us and we fell in the fire. Had it not been for Toothless, I would've died." He looked at his friend with a small smile.

When his eyes moved back Jack was staring at him. Eventually (after a bit of awkward silence) the Winter Spirit spoke softly: "You're not one to be underestimated, huh?"

"Erm, well, um, thanks…" Hiccup awkwardly scratched his neck, then cleared his throat. "Anyway, we got terribly off topic, you were telling me about your dream-vision-thingy. You said that so far you've figured out two of the shadows – yours and mine – so we just have to find the other two and then, of course, we gotta figure out _what_ exactly to do to help Man in Moon – Manny, was it?"

"Ye-wait, you're actually going to help me? Without, I don't know, pleading, persuading or manipulation?"

"Yep," the Viking answered, searching around, "I've always wanted to explore beyond the borders of the Archipelago and it's quite dull here anyway. Plus, it's clearly something of vital importance – nothing else would've brought you here from the future…" Jack had to agree there. Hiccup sat back opposite him and opened a sketchbook. "Okay, describe the dream with the clues once againg – _this time slower_ – and I'll write down everything we know." The Guardian did as told and not five minutes later the two boys were sitting next to each other, thinking, looking over the notes.

"The way I figure it," Hiccup thought out loud, "these clues would only help us if we came across these people by chance – there must be at least a dozen turquoise-eyed archers, probably spread worldwide; the same goes to green-eyed singers and those 'fireflies' aren't helping either. It's the clicks that bug me. I don't think we'll get very far with the long blond hair, but the Scottish accent's definitely something."

"Not much," Jack disagreed, "unless you know where Scotland is."

"I don't," Hiccup grinned, "but my dad does."

* * *

"You never told me your father was the chief!" Jack accused. Hiccup only shrugged.

The two boys were walking to the 'Great Hall', as Hiccup had called it – well, at least the Viking was, Jack was flying as ever.

"I get that he's chief and all, but that doesn't mean he knows where Scotland is!" the Guardian argued.

"Allow me to know my father, okay? When he was young his grandfather left to fight the Scottish, dad was at the harbour, he saw the ships leaving."

"Yeah, okay, that means nothing – he's been really young, hasn't he? How could he know?"

"Fine, may-maybe he doesn't, but he at least knows the general direction, I'm sure of it!"

"Who're ye talkin' ta, son?"

Both boys froze – they hadn't noticed they'd already reached the Great Hall. In front of them was standing the chief and Jack immediately realized why he was called the Vast. The Guardian nervously whispered to the brunette: "Just found a crack in the plan – _he can't see me_."

"Thank you for summing that up." Hiccup replied through gritted teeth, then turned to his father: "Um, Dad, re-remember all those tales Gobber used to tell me when I was little?"

Stoick laughed. "O'course I do, he's da one who made ye believe in trolls!"

"That-that's true, but I was thinking of the story about the boy who brought winter…"

"Ye mean Jack Frost? What 'bout him? He's jus' a legend, after all."

"Actually…"

"If ye're goin' ta be talkin' 'bout stories, son, there's a better time. Now, if ye excuse me, I've ta help Sven…"

"Dad, he's real! And-and here."

Stoick looked at Hiccup surprised. The boy sighed. "I'm not making this up, believe me." He then nudged the Guardian asking: "Show him okay?"

Jack nodded and with one touch from his staff the ground was covered with a blanket of snow. Remembering Jamie, he concentrated and a little snow dragon flew around the amazed chief before bursting in a small cloud of snowflakes. Then the spirit's mischievous side took over and he frosted Stoick's beard, earning for this a glare from the brunette. Jack shrugged chuckling. "Hey, it's not my fault I'm the Guardian of fun." But suddenly he was lifted off the ground by the collar and Hiccup snickered at the sight of his wide-eyed father who was looking Jack up and down. "Hey, hey, put me down!" the Guardian demanded indignantly, wiggling in the air and noting the déjà vu – the chief looked an awful lot like a yeti.

"So it's true…" Stoick murmured and put him down, earning an annoyed 'thanks'. "Whut brings ye here?"

Jack looked at Hiccup, who nodded, and smiled sheepishly. "It's a long story…"

* * *

"That'd be enough fer two days though I doubt it'll take that much." Stoick announced as he packed a sack of fish on Toothless' saddle.

The whole village was sending the two boys off. Eventually (and not without a few more proofs) all the Berkians had managed to see Jack so the evening in the Great Hall was cooler than usual (pun intended). The twins had taken a particular liking to the Winter Spirit and had had great fun with him – by the time Jack came back to speak to Hiccup and Stoick Tuff and Ruff were laughing hysterically. Freezing, but laughing none-the-less. On the more convenient side, the chief had shown them where on the map he supposed Scotland should be so the boys were ready to leave as soon as the sun rose again.

"There." Stoick secured the sack then put a heavy hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "Take care, son."

"Will do." Hiccup smiled.

A girl, Astrid, if Jack wasn't mistaken, came and poked the young Viking in the ribs, then swiftly kissed him on the cheek, saying softly afterwards: "Be careful, okay?"

Hiccup nodded and mounted Toothless. Jack strode next to him, his signature smirk in place, and the Viking rolled his eyes. "Oh, spare me. Let's go, so you won't have the chance to tease me."

The spirit's smirk only grew. "How come?"

"Cause you'll be far behind, that's how."

"Is that a challenge, Dragon Boy?"

Toothless laughed (sorta) as his rider grinned. "Oh, you don't wanna race a Night Fury, mate." With that they took off and in a mere blink turned to a black speck against the vast blue sky.

Jack stared at them for a second, the déjà vu once again shocking him, then shouted to no one in particular: "Why does this keep happening to me?!" Then he too took off and ushered the wind so that he could catch up to his friends.

It took him a couple of minutes to do so and when he finally did he realized that Toothless was actually gliding in a relaxed and pretty lazy manner. The Viking grinned at Jack. "Far behind, just as I said."

The Guardian mirrored his grin and (with quite a good imitation of an Australian accent) snapped: "Rack off, ya bloody showpony!"

"What-what was that?" Hiccup laughed.

Jack smiled. "A friend of mine – real annoying, real grumpy and _really_ full of himself." It took Hiccup a few minutes to calm down and stop snickering after that.

They flew in silence for a bit then Hiccup asked: "What do we do when we get to Scotland?"

"Dunno," the Guardian shrugged, "leave everything to fate, I guess. But we're still far from there so let's have some fun!" With that he shot down head first and was just about to fall in the ocean when he pulled back up and after a series of tricks, flips and dives he leveled with the dragon and his rider again wearing his signature smirk.

"And I'm the showoff, eh?" Hiccup chuckled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"It's not like you can do better." The Guardian shrugged.

Hiccup feigned an offended expression. He nudged Toothless and grumbled: "Bud, I'm jumping in the ocean, Jack's annoying me." The dragon growled in acceptance and before the spirit had fully processed what was going on Hiccup jumped off of Toothless and they both dived head first in the air. Jack froze for a moment, but then…

"Wo-hoo!" Hiccup yelled and the Guardian exhaled freely – he doubted his friend would've yelled like that had he been plummeting to his death. Now certain of his well-being, he shot down to freefall with the other two circling them and laughing in glee. When the ocean came in view Hiccup buckled himself back on the saddle and Toothless spread his wings, thus stopping their fall. Jack was quick to level with them.

"How can you be doing that, you can't fly!" he exclaimed, still exhilarated by the stunt. Hiccup smirked.

"So you take Toothless for nothing, huh?" He then broke into a grin. "But you gotta admit it was fun!"

"Okay, I'll give you that!" his friend laughed. "I'll have to work really hard to beat that."

* * *

"Okay, I get it – you're the Winter Spirit! Could we just call it a, a, a-" here Hiccup sneezed, "a tie so you can stop?"

True to his word, Jack had done something to beat the Viking's freefalling stunt – this something being a snowstorm. It had been fun at first, but now flying was becoming harder and harder for Toothless and even though the Guardian hated to admit it, things had gone beyond his control.

"Well?" Hiccup shouted so that his friend could hear him through the howling wind. "Would you fix it already?"

"How do I fix a blizzard?" Jack shouted back. He barely heard the answer.

"I have no ideaaa!"

Somehow managing to find the duo, Jack yelled in Hiccup's ear: "This is becoming too much for you and Toothless! Let's land, I think I saw an island or something a while ago!"

"Okay, but if the natives are hostile and try to send us to the Valhalla I'll kill you!" the Viking shouted back then directed Toothless down and out of the blizzard. The Guardian followed suit, leaving the storm to dissipate on its own devices.

When they got out of the cloud they saw no island at all. "Uh, Jack," Hiccup called, "that's not an island – it's the mainland! We've reached Scotland!"

"Cool," Jack grinned, "now what?"

"No idea." The Viking answered. "Let's land and, uh, what did someone say… Ah, yes, leave everything to fate. C'mon, bud, we're landing!"

"Oh, yeah, haha." The Guardian rolled his eyes and descended as well. "So, _where_ exactly are we?" he asked as soon as his feet touched the ground.

"Again, _no idea_ – never been outside the Archipelago, remember? All I know is that we're in some weird circle of stone pillars, one of which fallen, but you can see that for yourself." absentmindedly replied the brunette, his eyes scanning the area and landing on the fallen pillar. He dismounted Toothless and kneeled next to the stone to examine it.

Jack took a look around for himself. There wasn't much o be added to Hiccup's description – beyond the circle there were only trees and trees and trees and a blue flame and trees and trees and tre-

"Wait, what?" Jack exclaimed.

Indeed, there was a small blue flame hanging in the air at eye level not far away from the Guardian. What's more, its shape vaguely resembled that of a human and right now its tiny little arms were beckoning him over.

"Um, Hiccup, you might wanna check this out." he called to his friend.

"… a skeleton under it? What could've possibly… Huh, what? Yeah, go, I'll catch up in a minute!" the Viking answered automatically and continued mumbling to himself.

Jack rolled his eyes and slowly moved towards the blue flame. It let out an eerie sigh and melted in the air, just to appear a few meters further on the border of the trees, and waving him over again. Jack stepped towards it but someone growled next to him – Toothless. A question was clear in his green eyes. "Gotta follow it, Toothless, I won't be long." The spirit promised, then jerked his head towards Hiccup. "Look after him, will you? He's too concentrated to notice anything." The dragon warbled and went to stand guard by his rider while Jack lightly flew towards the little flame. It let out another sigh and disappeared, but this time it was a whole bunch of flames that formed a path through the forest. The Guardian didn't hesitate a second and followed them.

He noticed that the trees were lessening with each moment he went into the forest. (Or should he say out of it? Oh well.) Suddenly he heard a _twang!_ , then a whistle and something like a knock. Without even thinking, Jack ushered the wind to reach the sounds. A minute later the wind threw him in an opening – a wide meadow bathed in sunlight. Jack landed and was just about to take a look around when an arrow nearly beheaded him. "What the…!" he cried annoyed – why did people in the past have to be so intent on killing him?

"Hey," another voice shouted, "whut'd'ye think ye're doin'?" Jack turned around to the other person and looked at them ready to argue but was left dumbfounded.

… A pair of turquoise eyes were staring back this time and his peripheral vision picked a whole lot of arrows spilled on the ground. "The third shadow…" Jack murmured, not realising that he was staring at the owner of the voice with his mouth slightly ajar. The owner of the voice, he observed, was a girl with fiery red hair, seemingly no older than him or Hiccup. He failed to notice, however, her angry expression.

"Don' think I've no idea whut happened!" she accused, almost deafening Jack with her thick Scottish accent. "Da wind blew ye here an' misdirected mah arrow, 'tis yer fault I missed mah target!"

"Hey, hey, calm down, I'm sorry!" the Guardian tried to defend himself. The girl opened her mouth to retort, but was interrupted by the loud sound of flapping wings. A second later Toothless landed in the opening.

"Jack, you won't believe how easy it was to find you," Hiccup said as he jumped off the saddle, "I could hear you fro-" Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks – his eyes had landed on the girl. "Merida?"

"Hiccup?"

* * *

 **A/N: Turns out these two know each other - go figure.**

 **I really do hope I did at least semi-satisfactory with the accents - please bear in mind that I'm not actually English, let alone Scottish. It's the best way I could give Mer (and Stoick) some more character.**

 _ **Reviews:**_

 _ **koala789:**_ **Thanks so much! I love a fic where the Four are in character as well!**


	6. Chapter 5

"Hiccup? Whut in da name o'…"

The two of them were staring at each other with their mouths hanging open but that wasn't even remotely close to Jack's state – the poor winter spirit was positively puzzled, he couldn't even think straight.

After some time Merida cleared her throat. "Um, ye've… changed."

"Thanks, you-you have too." The Viking blurted, trying to shake the shock off. Her lips twitched in a small smile.

"Whut're ye doin' here anyway?"

Hiccup huffed. "It's a long story. You see, -"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the horses! _You two know each other?!_ " As obvious, Jack had come to his senses and, again – as obvious, was ready to find out what for Winter's sake was going on. "Come on, somebody explain!"

Hiccup opened his mouth to answer but Merida beat him. "Mah mom tried ta betroth us."

"E-excuse me? But I thought this whole arranged-marriage-because-of-political-issues thing was left in the past! But then again, this is the past." The redhead looked confused but Jack continued: "Uh, how… I mean, you two aren't married…"

"Well, Merida and her mother, the queen, came to Berk but Dad didn't know why exactly. When he found out he was, well, furious – that was one of the few times he backed me in an argument."

"What do you mean, you two seemed to get along quite well." Jack wondered. The Viking smiled.

"Yeah, that-that was before the whole Toothless thing." The Guardian chuckled.

"Oi, care ta tell meh whut's all that 'bout? 'M kinda lost here." Both boys turned to Merida.

"Sure, I-I guess I should introduce you to Toothless first…" With that Hiccup waved the dragon over. Toothless cautiously came, eyeing the unknown person with no little amount of distrust; his sharp teeth were displayed. He growled questioningly, making Merida tense but still not scaring her, as Jack noted in surprise. "So, uh, Toothless - Merida, Merida – Toothless." Hiccup gestured to each of them then, turning to his dragon, softly said: "It's okay, buddy, she's a friend." Toothless growled again, this time unsure, and his rider huffed: "Oh, c'mon, bud, trust me!" The dragon eyed him with a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look, then suddenly jumped on him pinning him to the ground and rested his head on the Viking's chest. "Why, you!" the latter laughed.

The other two watched with their eyes wide. Jack already knew the Viking and the dragon were great friends and had seen them do amazing stunts together but he'd never witnessed something quite like this; it was even more shocking for Merida.

Meanwhile Toothless agreed to let his rider stand. Hiccup got back on his feet, er, foot, dusting himself off and glared playfully at Jack. "Thanks for the help, I appreciated it." The Guardian grinned sheepishly and the brunette rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Merida, I don't think he considers you an enemy anymore but just to be sure…" He grabbed her hand and led her to Toothless.

"Whut're ye doin'?" she asked, more curious than worried. The Viking just smiled and held her hand a few inches from Toothless' snout. The dragon sniffed a few times then broke into a toothless grin and nudged her hand with his nose.

"That means he likes you… and won't eat you or roast you alive." Hiccup explained.

"You never did anything like this for me!" Jack whined. The Viking shrugged.

"I think you gained his trust when he found out you could fly, the bonding wasn't needed."

"The what?"

But Hiccup didn't get the chance to explain. "Ye know, I could do with a wee bit more explanations. An' those ought ta include yer… um, leg, and yer words that this is da past."

The boys exchanged a look and Hiccup flopped on the ground groaning. "Oh, Thor, this is gonna take long!" Then he took out his sketchbook and started looking over the notes, completely ignoring Jack's explanations.

Jack, for his part, dutifully told the redhead his and Hiccup's tales. Her eyes grew wider and wider as he talked about Pitch, the Red Death and the boys' lives since, ending with the endangered moon, his vision and how he found himself in the past looking for three people of whom he knew barely anything.

"An' ye think I'm one o' those?" Merida asked, her eyebrow raised sceptically. At Jack's nod she continued: "Whut makes ye think so?"

"Well, you match my vision and… oh, I don't know, I just… feel it."

She rose her eyebrow even higher but then Hiccup spoke: "You can see him."

"Whut does that's ta do with anything?" Merida questioned. The Viking shrugged.

"It's just an idea. Back at Berk only Toothless and I could see Jack until we convinced the others that he was real. When I asked him about it, he said we were special. Said he didn't know why but… I think I know – maybe only those people from his vision can see him because they're, like, _meant_ to see him."

Realization crept onto Jack's face along with a you're-so-right grin. Merida nodded and said, mostly to herself: "Makes sense. Even more so, if ye consider da fact that da will-o'-da-wisps brought ye here…"

"The what?" Hiccup asked but Jack interrupted.

"Are these the tiny blue flames? What are they?"

"They're spirits that lead ye ta yer destiny." Merida explained. "They helped meh find mine but that's a long story."

The boys shared a look. "We have time." Jack smirked, Hiccup confirmed with a nod.

"Listen then. Everything began on mah birthday sume ten years ago…"

* * *

"Hm, life does have a sense of irony." Hiccup noted matter-of-factly when Merida finished her tale. Jack looked at him.

"How come?"

"Just think about it. You were meant to be a Guardian, you didn't want to become one but in the end you did. Merida, _the daughter of the Bear King_ , turned her mother into a bear then protected her from said Bear King. I befriended a dragon even though my whole village killed them and killing one had been my goal for practically my entire life."

"And then you go, with your pet dragon, and finish off another dragon that endangered your tribe, not to mention the whole dragonkind." Jack finished. "Makes sense."

Merida was staring blankly at them. "Are ye serious? I told ye such a story an' that's how ye react?"

Hiccup looked at her. "Um, you heard our biographies, right?"

"Yeah, we're kinda used to abnormal things." Jack agreed.

The princess stared at them for a few more seconds, then shook her head unbelievingly and turned around, starting to walk away. Now it was the boys' turn to look at her incredulous.

"Are ye comin' or not?" Merida called over her shoulder.

"Where exactly?" Jack shouted back.

"Mah place, ye Messrs. Not-surprised-at-all! Don' think I'll leave without tellin' mah parents whut I'm doin'!"

Jack blinked. "So she's coming with us then?" Hiccup scoffed and followed the princess, Toothless right next to him. The spirit shrugged and quickly caught up with them.

"Um, Merida, are you planning on introducing us to your parents?" the brunette asked nervously.

"Yeah," the redhead andswered, not sparing him a glance, "why're ye askin'?"

"Do you seriously think they'll see me?" Jack butt in, earning a shrug.

"Mah mom will fer sure, she believes in will-o'-da-wisps, she'll believe in ye too. Mah dad's gonna be da tough one." Ignoring the spirit's surprise, Merida turned around to look at the worried dragon rider. "Why're ye askin', Hiccup?"

"Well, didn't you have problems with the Vikings a couple of years ago?"

Merida's eyes widened. "That was yer tribe?"

"No! No, the Berserkers. They caused a lot of trouble before we managed to deal with Dagur, we haven't stepped on Scottish land or sailed in the Scottish seas for at least half a century."

"But they don't know that." Jack figured. Hiccup nodded, his expression growing even more worried. The Guardian put a hand on his shoulder. "Relax, what's the worst thing that could possibly happen?"

"They could throw me and Toothless in jail… Or kill us! … Or declare war on Berk! Or _all of these!_ "

Jack's smile turned upside down. He looked at Merida. "He's not exaggerating, is he?"

"No, mah dad's not da patient kind an' he's one hell o' a temper…" She thought for a bit; her face suddenly relaxed and she told Hiccup, a grin on her lips: "Tell ye whut, before I introduce ye ta mah parents I'll ask if they know who who Those Vikings were an' we'll improvise from there."

"Sounds like a plan!" Jack approved, his words followed by Toothless' purr of agreement. The spirit lightly punched Hiccup's shoulder. "Cheer up, oh great dragon conqueror, even Toothless likes it!"

Even though there was still worry in his green eyes, the brunette smiled.

Soon (but too soon for Hiccup's liking) they got to the castle. Te Viking's question whether he should leave Toothless outside remained unanswered and so the dragon trudged after the group ignoring the terrified looks he got – his attention was turned to his rider who was just as terrified. The boys decided to wait in front of the big wooden doors so Merida entered alone. Luckily, both of her parents were in the throne room.

"Oi, mom, dad, d'ye know which Viking tribe attacked clan McGuffin a couple o' years ago?"

Eleanor looked up at her slightly alarmed, but her father bought it immediately. "O' course I do, lass, 'twas da Berserkers' tribe, why're ye askin'?"

"No reason," she grinned, "by da way, I wanna introduce ye ta somebody. Come in, lads!"

She shouted the last bit and both boys entered the hall, Toothless trailing behind. But as soon as he saw Hiccup, Fergus jolted up from his seat roaring: "How dare ye enter mah halls, ye Viking!"

The brunette stopped dead in his tracks – the sight of the angry Bear King coming towards him proved all his fears. "Dad, stop, whut're ye doin'?" shouted Merida, desperately trying to figure out what had gone wrong; Jack was watching the whole scene frozen (pun intended) and feeling more useless than ever.

"He's a Viking!" the king accused.

"Yeah, but he's not a Berserker!" the princess argued back.

Her father hotly retorted: "Ye can't know that!" With these words he took a few more steps towards the scrawny Viking. And at that moment, two things happened.

One, Toothless burst inside with a screech. Two, Eleanor yelled: "Fergus, stop!"

These two actions acted like a pause button – everyone froze, their glance torn between the dragon and the queen. The former wrapped his tail around Hiccup protectively and growled while the latter walked to the small group in a way demanding worship and respect.

"B-but Eleanor, darling…" the king started but she cut him with a question directed to none other than the brunette.

"Are ye by any chance Hiccup Horrendous Haddock da Third?"

Her words echoed in the hall, bouncing off the stone walls and taking everyone by surprise. Hiccup nodded, determined to end this in a peaceful way so he put a hand on Toothless' head.

"Eleanor, whut's all that 'bout?" Fergus demanded, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword. The dragon saw and growled. Everyone flinched but just a second later the growl was hushed by a few words from the scrawny boy.

The queen's eyes widened slightly. "Please come, be a guest ta our dinner. Yer companions're invited as well." With that she walked to the dining room, not bothered by the fact that everyone's jaws (except for Toothless') dropped open. They then slowly made their way to said room, both Hiccup and the king taking care to walk with a noticeable distance between them.

When finally at the table, Fergus said with a completely puzzled expression: "But… But, Eleanor, he's a Viking!"

"Yes, Fergus, da lad's Hiccup Horrendous Haddock da Third, heir ta da throne o' Berk. Ye should remember him, he was one o' Merida's suitors an'… Ah, thank ye, Maudie… An' he's also da lad that trained dragons."

Utter silence fell on the table. After a minute of waiting for someone to break it Hiccup softly spoke. "How do you know about this?"

Eleanor smiled. "By word o' mouth. We here have heard o' da Berkians who ride dragons and o' da son o' da chief who was da first ta train them. But I didn' know 'twas a Night Fury ye'd trained."

Hiccup chuckled, lightly patting his friend's head. "The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Truly scary, huh?" The queen smiled at his sarcasm – right now Toothless had adopted puppy-dog eyes that made one do anything but feel terrified.

She then turned to Jack. "An' who might ye be?"

Warm feeling spread in his stomach – even though Merida had said that her mother would probably see him and he was a Guardian and all, it was still a nice surprise to find someone who believed in him. But then…

"Eleanor, darling, who're ye talkin' ta?" the king boomed, having shook off the slight shock.

… And the moment was ruined. Thanks a lot, Bear King!

"Mom, dad, that's Jack, Jack Frost." Merida introduced him. He smiled nervously to the queen whose eyes had widened a bit but then Fergus once again ruined the moment. _By laughing_. Followed by a string of unintelligible words, the others only occasionally picking up a name of a mystical creature.

Jack frowned in annoyance, but then smirked – he'd decided he deserved revenge. So he walked by the king's side and with a wave of his staff Fergus' drink was turned to an ice cube. He then returned to his seat – just in time to hear the king's yell of surprise. "Serves him right." He muttered with a grin.

Suddenly three people burst out laughing. Everyone turned around to see the triplets who'd apparently entered just in time to see what had happened. "Boys!" Fergus shouted, but Eleanor cut him.

"'Twasn't them, dear, 'twas Jack Frost." The king's shocked face was simply ridiculous.

Meanwhile, said boys came to Jack's seat and one of them said: "Come."

"Why?" the spirit asked. The triplets just smirked, so he turned to Merida.

"These wee devils want ye ta join them in a prank o' some sort."

A mischievous smirk made its way on his face. "Lead the way, little devils!" In less than ten seconds the four were out of the dining room.

Fergus looked at his wife. "That lad was Jack Frost?"Apparently, he'd managed to see the latter in time.

"Yes, dear, he is." Eleanor replied immediately.

"Um, Your Majesty, may I ask you something? How did you know I was… well, me?" Hiccup asked curiously.

"Well, first o' all, I already knew ye, remember, it's true that ye weren't famous at da time, but still. Ye've grown, by the way. An' second, two things made me recognize ye – yer prosthetic an' yer dragon." At the brunette's nod she continued: "Whut leads ye here anyway?"

Hiccup opened his mouth to answer but was cut by the king. "Ye've a peg leg, lad? How'd ye loose yers?"

The boy looked at Merida. "Mom, dad, ye see, these two stories're actually connected…"

The rest of the evening was filled with explanations. Meanwhile, the whole castle was turned upside down and tramps and crashes were heard from everywhere, as well as an occasional scream courtesy of Maudie – sure signs of the mayhem Jack and the triplets were causing.

The next morning Merida bid her family goodbye – they'd agreed to let her go – and walked to the boys alongside her colt Angus. "So whut's da plan, lads?"

Hiccup answered, not looking up from Toothless' saddle which he was fixing: "To leave everything to fate."

Jack poked him in the ribs with the tip of his staff, snickering. "Okay, no more mockery. But that was in fact the plan – to let the wind carry me to wherever and you two to follow. Because, you know, it's not like we know where to look for a long-haired, golden-locked, green-eyed singer…"

"Ye think this'll actually work?" Merida asked, her eyebrows raised skeptically.

"No," Jack shrugged, "But it's worth a shot. Come on!" With that he let the wind take him.

The redhead looked at Hiccup incredulously – he just smiled. "Might as well join in in his madness." And he and his dragon too were off.

Merida mounted Angus and followed them on the ground, muttering about stupidity and ridiculous plans – or lack thereof.

* * *

"Got a new plan already?" Merida asked.

They'd left Scotland about a week ago but still had neither clue nor result in their search. There was at least a tiny bit of hope though – the wind was steadily blowing in one direction, south-east. Currently they were camping on the edge of a forest, for dusk had already fallen.

"Come on, Merida, have a little more faith in destiny!" Jack grinned. "I would if I were you – with a biography like yours…" Hiccup snorted loudly; the princess just rolled her eyes. The Guardian shook his head in amusement and glanced longingly at the direction of the wind.

He suddenly jolted up, startling the others. "Jack, what on-" Hiccup started, but the Guardian didn't pay him any attention – instead, he summoned the wind and flew south-east. "Oh, by Odin's beard!" Hiccup whined. "Merida, come!" They got on Toothless' back and the dragon took off, his riders yelling after the Winter Spirit.

But he heard nothing. For something had grabbed his attention.

* * *

 **A/N: Ah, good old-ashioned cliffhangers. Well, there you go. Would've updated sooner, but this chapter required lots of editing...**

 **Please, please tell me if you notice any major plot holes or mistakes or characters being OOC - especially the latter, it's pretty important to me.**

 _ **Reviews:**_

 _ **RedLegoManiac**_ **: Thanks, I do try.**

 **koala789: Oh, my first fangirling review, thank you! Hope the chapter was good enough.**


	7. Chapter 6

Dancing lights were filling the darkening sky. Jack was staring at them in awe, completely ignoring everything else. That was until…

"Jack!"

He turned around to find both his friends on Toothless' back. What's more, they were glaring at him.

"Whut was that 'bout?" Merida demanded. The Guardian simply pointed behind himself, towards the floating lights. Realization dawned on Hiccup's face.

"The fireflies… That's what you think, isn't it – that these are the fireflies!"

"Those from yer vision?" Merida too understood. Jack nodded.

"I think they might lead us to the forth shadow."

"Let's follow them then!" The princess suggested. "Angus'll be fine by himself fer a couple o' days in da camp."

"Sounds like a plan!" Hiccup smiled in approval. Jack grinned as well.

"Let's do it." And off they were.

They soon found out that the 'fireflies' were in fact flying lanterns; the three teens and the dragon were watching them awestruck. Hiccup looked around. "There!" he pointed to the earth - well, right now it was the sea. "The lanterns come from that city over there!"

Merida narrowed her eyes to see better in the growing darkness, then exclaimed: "That's da kingdom o' Corona, mah mom's told meh 'bout it!"

"Anyone with long golden locks, green eyes and good singing voice in there?" Jack asked with a grin. The redhead laughed.

"I don' know 'bout singin' but their princess has da same features. But don' get any hopeful," she added, "she went missin' some fifteen years ago."

"Darn." Jack muttered with a sigh. "Back to plan A then, let's follow the lanterns." And they spent the rest of the night gliding beside the lights, headed to wherever the wind took them.

"Hey Jack," Hiccup called once the sky began turning light pink, "I know you're immortal and all, but I can't ride much longer and Toothless is literally falling asleep mid-flight…"

The Guardian all but facepalmed. "I'm an idiot! Sorry guys, let's land over there and you'll get some sleep." So they did and as soon as their feet touched solid ground the four of them, even the Winter Spirit for once, were off to Lalala land.

* * *

Hiccup yawned upon awakening and, trying to bring his mind to work, murmured: "Guys?" Two sleepily muttered grunts served as his answer. Ignoring the fact that his friends were still more than half asleep (not that he was too far from them), the Viking continued: "D'you know where we are?"

"No?" Merida's words were more of a question than of an answer; Jack, though, was awakening already.

"Why don't you enlighten us?"

Hiccup was too sleepy to roll his eyes; instead he looked around. "We're in a cove of some sort – greenery, encircled by cliffs, no way in or out, you know the drill… There's something like a cave… More greenery… A pond, a waterfall – gods, this reminds me of the Cove back home, except this one has a tower…"

Jack immediately woke up. "Whoa, whoa, a tower?"

"Mhm, seems abandoned."

"How'd we miss _a whole tower_ when we were landing?" the Guardian cried out in exasperation, efficiently waking everyone up.

"Ta tell ye da truth," Merida muttered, rubbing the sleep off her eyes, "we weren' in da best o' forms while landin' this mornin'. Whut's da time?"

"Ah, I don't really care right now, I want to explore the tower." Jack answered, his eyes never leaving said building.

Hiccup sighed. "Fine, but again – if the inhabitants (if any) are hostile and try to send us to the Valhalla, I'll kill you."

"I'll take the risk." The Viking rolled his eyes good-naturally.

"Oi, lads, found a problem – there's no way in that tower." Merida called. Hiccup, however, just snickered.

"Tsk, tsk, shame for your keen eyesight. Don't you know there's always a loophole? And quite a literal one in our case, if I do say so myself."

Jack mock-glared at him. "Hiccup, no riddles this early!"

The Viking snorted. "There's a window on top of the tower. And, for the record, it looks just about noon right now."

" _That_ late?"

Merida though didn't seem to pay attention to them but to the tower. "On top o' it, eh? It's a good thing we all can fly." She turned to the boys with a determined grin. "Let's see whut's in there!"

"Wo-hoo!" Hiccup's yells were accompanied by Merida who was beginning to thoroughly enjoy riding on Toothless. Surprisingly enough, the dragon got through the window, the Guardian entering right after him.

"Okay, now let's see if there's anything interesting around here…" Jack trailed off, his eyes falling on the Viking. "… or anyone hostile."

"Heard that!"

The Guardian snickered and looked around – to be fair, the tower didn't seem abandoned at all, quite on the contrary. The interior was practically glowing, so clean it was, and from what seemed to be the kitchen could be sensed…

"Does anyone else smell cookies?"

"Mmm, fresh and crispy… with chocolate chips…" Merida sighed dreamily; but Hiccup said nothing. Jack turned around to check on him and saw that the brunette was studying the wall hypnotized.

"Wow, check out these drawings…" True – thousands of murals littered the walls, cupboards, almost everything.

But Jack was unable to spare them a more detailed look for almost at the same moment Merida distracted him by saying: "Um, more like check out that hair!"

Truth be told, the Guardian wasn't able to look at said hair either because…

BAM!

And he landed face first on the ground. Unconscious? No. With a horrible headache? Yes. Annoyed as hell? For sure. "Why do people in the past _always_ have to try to kill me!" he whined and turned around. Then froze.

Another pair of green eyes were staring at him, but softer than Hiccup's. They were surrounded by a strange golden glow – blond hair, he quickly deduced, which was… how long _was_ that hair?

Suddenly, just like that, the thing in his head clicked.

All this hitting, yelling, staring, thinking and clicking happened in more or less 7 seconds. Then Toothless roared and started bounding towards the green-eyed girl, who – as Jack had observed – was holding a frying pan, and a darn heavy one! Said cooking utensil was now pointed towards the charging Night Fury. Hiccup cried out and quickly moved in his way to stop him; his cry brought another person to the scene, though 'person' was a tricky word in the case.

A tiny green chameleon appeared on the girl's shoulder with an angry expression but as soon as its eyes locked with Toothless' both reptiles froze. The chameleon made its way to the outer rim of the frying pan, Toothless too came closer – neither looking away while doing so. The four teenagers were watching the scene frozen in place, not sure what might happen next. And what _did_ happen for sure shocked them.

The chameleon opened its mouth and stuck its tongue out, thus swiftly licking the dragon's nose. Toothless grinned a gummy grin and licked the smaller reptile back, leaving it soaking wet.

"You trust him, Pascal?" a soft voice asked – the girl had spoken. The chameleon shook itself rid of the saliva and squeaked its agreement to her. She nodded, dropped the pan at her side and declared: "Then I trust him too."

"Uh, we-well done, Toothless!" Hiccup said in utter shock. The girl's face immediately lit.

"Aww, you called him that because he has no teeth? That's so sweet! May I, uh… pet him?"

"Um, sure, if he allows…" the Viking smiled a bit nervously and guided her hand to his dragon's nose, the latter happily nuzzling in her palm. The girl laughed and petted him again. Hiccup snickered. "Hey, watch this." He moved next to his friend and scratched him under the chin; Toothless immediately fell on the ground, purring loudly and causing the girl to giggle behind her hand. The Viking smiled at her, then gestured around. "Did you draw all of this?"

She nodded shyly. "I have a lot of spare time."

"It's… outstanding, the whole thing – the multiple compositions, not to mention the details…"

She perked up. "Do you draw too?"

"Yeah, well, not as good as you anyway, mine are mainly sketches and messy ones at that…" And without even noticing the two of them were engrossed in a deep conversation on art.

Jack and Merida were still watching from the sideline in shock. "Whut exactly happened now?" the princess managed to blurt out.

The Guardian shook his head in bewilderment. "I think that two reptiles just signed our peace treaty." Then finally shaking the shock off, he called: "Um, guys? No offence, but you can talk about art later, we kind of have to focus." The teenagers in questuion lifted their heads and nodded.

"Guess we should introduce ourselves, right? Well, you already met Toothless and I'm Hiccup. Don't ask."

Merida continued: "Mah name's Merida, I'm da princess o' da Dunbroch clan."

The girl nodded and her curious gaze moved to jack. "I'll assume that you can see me," he unconsciously rubbed the sore spot on his head, "Jack Frost, spirit of Winter and Guardian of Fun, at your service."

"Oh, I though it was you, but I wasn't sure, I've read about you!" the girl smiled then introduced herself: "My name's Rapunzel and this is Pascal." She gestured to the chameleon who waved. "Um, not to be rude or anything, but how did you find my tower? No one ever comes here, except for mother, of course."

Jack grined. "Well, you see…"

"Oh, Thor, here comes the explanation." Hiccup interrupted with a groan.

"Whut's with da attitude? S'not like ye've heard it countless times!"

The Viking raised his eyebrows at Merida. "I'll have you know that this is in fact the _seventh_ time I'm going to hear it – I've heard it when Jack and I first met, then when we wrote the important things down, then there are the repetitions for my dad, the Berkians, you, your parents and now her."

"Fair enough." The princess agreed. The Guardian chuckled at them and started the long, _long_ story.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight – you," Rapunzel pointed to Merida, "turned your mother into a bear because she'd arranged you a marriage and you wanted to be free, then changed her back, discovering the importance of family over getting what you want and both of you ended less stubborn; you," she pointed to Hiccup, "made friends with a dragon instead of killing him, your father found out, captured him and disowned you, then you saved him and the whole village from another dragon, ending up without a leg but with a best friend, a girlfriend and appreciation from the tribe; and you," she pointed to Jack, "died protecting your sister thus turning into a spirit, then fought the Boogeyman alongside the other Guardians becoming a Guardian yourself, had a weird vision and came to the past because Man in Moon needed your help."

Jack opened his mouth, though for a second and nodded. "That about sums it up."

"Whut 'bout ye?" Merida asked.

"Oh, well, there isn't much to be told. I've lived in here for my whole life – 17 years, since I turned so yesterday. But tell me, you really did find me following the floating lights?"

"Yeah, 'twas a sight ta behold…" Merida smiled. "… Wait a minute, ye're 17 too? I turned so a couple o' months ago! How old're ye, Hiccup?"

"You'd consider it 17." The Viking smiled.

"Why 'consider' it?" the spirit asked.

"Since my birthday is February 29th, I've technically only had four birthdays till now. You, Jack?"

"17 for eternity!" he smirked. "Some powerful team to help Manny we are!"

"Why," the Viking snickered, "you don't think four 17-year-olds are capable of hunting down a… a…" All the sarcasm dropped from his voice. "… what are we after anyway?" Jack paled mid-laughter.

And it struck them – they had no idea whatsoever who the villain in the story was.

Content with the heavy silence that'd fallen over the tower, the hooded figure flew off the roof where it had been eavesdropping, its lips curling into a smirk that promised no good.

* * *

 **A/N: Hmm, no villain...Or so it seems... What do you think?  
**

 **By the way, just to clarify - the story is Post-Brave, Post-RotG, Post-HtTYD and Post-Riders/Deffenders of Berk; Pre-Tangled, Pre-RttE and Pre-HtTYD2; as mentioned, at that time all the characters should be 17.**

 **Anyway, next week the results for a contest I entered are comming out, blah blah, blah, more stuff you never asked to know.**

 _ **Reviews:**_

 _ **koala789:**_ **Your review made my day, thank you! And yeah, she did, we all know how she was pre-movie... Don't be like that, I'm sure the picture's great! :)**


	8. Chapter 7

"What now? Rapunzel uttered when the silence became too thick. She looked at the Guardian. "Jack?"

"I don't know," he answered helplessly, a bit paler than usual, "uptil now I was focused on finding the owners of the shadows – to be fair, I seriously doubted I'd manage to find all three of you…"

"Cheer up, Jack, no despairin' if I've any say in da matter!" Merida bellowed, startling the others. "There's ta be somethin' – ye said ye trusted Man in Moon, he wouldn' leave us clueless… Hiccup, back meh up here!"

"His brow furrowed in thought. "Actually, you should be onto something, Merida! Le-let's look at my notes, maybe there's something we're missing…" He opened his sketchbook, all four of them dropping their heads over the Norse runes. "Here," the Viking pointed, "the notes of your dream. Let's see… the pale moon sphere, 'sick' according to Jack… the part about Toothless and me… your part, Rapunzel…"

"Wait, what was the previous thing?" the blonde interrupted.

"Toothless' and my part?"

"No, before that. Ah, what was it…" She snapped her fingers. "The moon sphere! It was pale and 'sick'…" She looked concentrated.

"Whut're ye onto, Rapunzel?" But she quickly shushed the Scottish girl, deep in thought.

"I've heard it somewhere, I'm sure of it… But where… No, I actually… That's it!" She jumped, hitting Jack with her elbow and dropping Pascal in the process, and rushed off to her bedroom. Merida and Hiccup exchanged incredulous glances while the Guardian rubbed a new sore spot on his head.

Rapunzel soon returned, a thick book residing in her arms. Jack glared at her.

"What was that about?"

He was promptly ignored.

"Is there anything else about the moon in these notes, Hiccup?"

"Um…" He flipped through a couple of pages. "Oh, there. Right before Jack came here – uh, now – North has apparently said that someone was taking Manny's powers."

"Knew it!" the blonde grinned, opening the book. "Check this out!"

"Whut's it?" Merida eyed her while Hiccup accepted the book and looked at it with Jack peering over his shoulder to do the same.

"Well, this is a folklore book – translated, of course – from somewhere dubbed Bulgaria; I don't think it still exists though. **[1]** Since I only own three books in total, I have them all memorised and as soon as I heard the thing about the 'sick' moon, it clicked. I knew I'd heard or read it before, so I got the book and tada!"

"But I still don'-" Merida, though, was cut by one Guardian's yell.

"That's it!" That was followed by another exclamation, this time of a certain Viking.

"It totally adds up! Could you read it aloud, Jack, so I can write it down?"

The brunette grabbed his charcoal, ready to record the information, Merida strained her ears as to not miss anything and Rapunzel settled in an excited silence as Jack cleared his throat and began to read.

" _The moon shines at nighttime, in the dead of night, when all is asleep_ , obvious stuff, blah blah blah… Moon phases, blah blah blah… Ah, there it is! _Witches and sorceresses, in order to reveal the world's secrets or to gain power for their charms, with magic take the moon down on the Earth. As such events the folk lore explains lunar eclipses._ **[2]** You know, Blondie, there was a lunar eclipse the exact same night I got your click, and the dream after that!"

Rapunzel nodded. "It doesn't say it in the book, but I asked mother – she'd been to this Bulgaria place once – and she told me that: when these witches take down the moon, it'll appear in the form of a silvery white cow and they'll milk it – apparently, it's the moon milk that gives them the moon's power – and once they're done the moon will return to the sky, but paler, weaker."

"In other words, 'sick'." Hiccup finished her thoughts. The blonde smiled at him.

"So our villain's a witch then?" Merida deduced, earning a nod. "Is there anythin' else 'bout witches in that wonderful book o' yers, Rapunzel?"

"Page 307." She immediately answered.

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you'd memorised the thing…" Jack muttered, flipping through the pages. "303, 305, there's it, 307. Ready to take notes, Hiccup?" The brunette nodded, so the Guardian resumed reading.

" _A witch is an evil spirit, incarnated in a vile woman but still a spirit of some sort due to said spirit's power._ Okay, that didn't make any sense, moving on. _A witch can fly and morph into a goose, dog, wolf, etc., lives in secluded places as to do charms to send misfortune to people. A woman becomes a witch with the power of a bad spirit or the devil himself. For a woman to become a witch…_ How exactly, blah blah blah… Oh, here! _Such witch can now, with the power of the devil, become superhuman: she can foresee everything that is to happen; she can say what one has done, what is to happen with them, their thoughts even. She can cure every illness; she can attract illnesses, misfortunes, death even to someone, as well as the exact opposite: she can shoo these and cure even a deathly-ill person._ Blah blah blah… _With the power of charms and sorcery she can: take down the moon, summon rain, flood even, or draught,_ blah blah blah, _in a word – can do as she pleases. Such witches are, according to folk lore, identified because their lips and bodies are covered with purple-black spots._ Blah blah blah… I think that's the useful information."

"Okay, got that." Hiccup stretched his hand which had started hurting from all the writing.

"Not all witches're bad though, ye know? There's da witch that helped mah mom and meh… Tricked us, she did, but she wasn' evil." Merida insisted. Jack nodded his agreement.

"It even says so in the book – that not all witches serve evil. And right before that it reads that they're also called… 'samovilas'? What's a 'samovila', Blondie?"

"Well, according to that book – don't you look at me like that, where else would I have learned it from, I've never left the tower! So, according to that book, a 'samovila' or a 'veela' **[3]** is a beautiful young maiden that has the power to charm brave lads with her beauty – and she'd charm them into taking their eyes or something even worse. Veelas live high in the mountains where they dance, ride their winged deers and throw arrows. Exactly throw them," she added, turning to Merida, "and not shoot them. As far as I know, veelas don't use bows. They also have wings, really, I don't know why they bother to ride these deers… And the thing they love the most is music and dancing, that's how most of the guys from the stories I've read got out of their hold."

"Got that too," Hiccup reported, "now what?"

"Now," Jack grinned, "we're going for advice to the only witch we know." At that he wiggled his eyebrows at Merida.

"Back ta Scotland?" she gasped; his grin grew. He nodded.

"Back to Scotland."

"Back to _Scotland_?!" Rapunzel exclaimed frantically. Everyone turned to her, even Toothless and Pascal who'd been play-fighting. "I can't go to Scotland!" the blonde blurted, almost hyperventilating, "I'm not even allowed out of the tower, and you said it was a week's ride away, mother will be so furious!"

"Blondie, calm down," Jack tried to reason with her, "didn't you say you'd always wanted to go outside? Now's your chance!"

Merida continued: "Plus, whut's da worst thing that could happen? She's not goin' ta be that mad anyway…"

"No, no, no… She'll be crushed if I leave! Or enraged – or both!" Apparently, the Scottish princess hadn't helped.

Hiccup sighed. "Look, Punzie – I hope you don't mind me calling you that – anyway, I of all people know what it's like to deal with and enraged and-slash-or crushed parent and, frankly, it's awful. But what I also know is that inside, sometimes not as deep as you'd think, they still love you and care for your happiness. Even if your mother did find out, which is not sure to happen, it won't be as bad as you think, I promise." She sniffed, sounding a bit more convinced.

"Look, let's think rationally," Jack tried again, "where's your mother right now?"

"She went somewhere – India, I think she called it – to get some special herbs; I asked her to get me carmine and azure paint as well."

"Blondie, if ye had a map ye'd've known that India's two months o' travelin' away." Merida smiled.

Jack added: "Make it four months, counting the way back. You'll be safe and sound in your tower by then!"

"An'," the Scottish princess added, "we'll do a perfect nothin' without ye – there're four shadows, remember?"

Rapunzel smiled at this and nodded. "Guess I'll be coming to Scotland then."

Merida cheered as Jack grinned. "Cool! Time of departure – tomorrow morning. Alright with you?"

"Ahem!" Hiccup coughed, making everyone turn to him. "There's one more thing – how's Toothless going to take both me and the girls to the camp where Angus is?" A low grow drew their attention to the Night Fury who was once again honouring the brunette with his you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look. "Don't go with that look, bud, I said it out of care!" And he turned around with a huff. Which resulted in him not seeing what the other three saw – how Pascal handed the larger reptile a box of chess figures which, in turn, resulted in three castles, a queen and several pawns flying towards a certain brunette, which in itself resulted in said brunette's headache and two reptiles' and three teenagers' laughter.

"Some friends I have, enjoying my misfortune." Hiccup rolled his eyes good-naturally.

"I'm… sorry, but… he has quite the temper, doesn't he?" Rapunzel managed in between giggles. The Viking scoffed.

"Yeah, no kidding! You should've seen him when we met – he made me swallow a fish. _Raw_. _After_ it'd been in _his_ throat. I mean, there's like a hundred ways to earn someone's trust, but this is just too much!"

* * *

"Okay, who wants to go first?"

After quite a good laugh for everybody Rapunzel had suggested that they get to know each other. That's why now they were sat in a circle on the floor with a big, _big_ plate of cookies in front of them, ready to ask and answer questions; the two reptiles were happily dozing off in a sun-light corner (if a circular tower has corners at all).

"I will!" Merida volunteered. "Whut annoys ye greatly? Fer meh, it'd've ta be royal duties. I do them now but they're still a pain."

Rapunzel sighed. "Being stuck here, till my death probably…"

The others shot her sympathetical looks and muttered simultaneously: "That sucks." She smiled in appreciation.

"What about you, boys?"

"Bunny." Jack said, almost immediately followed by Hiccup's mutter of "Snotlout." They turned to each other.

"A friend of yours?"

"More like a frenemy… we had a nasty past."

"He hated you?"

"Yep, but I think we're past that part – I mean, now he at least _sometimes_ does what I ask of him; _sometimes_ being the key word. But he's still annoying as a fly and wait, what?!"

The girls were staring at them, mouths all but hanging open. Because the whole conversation had just been said simultaneously, each boy asking the same question and receiving the same answer. Which sent the both of them into a fit of laughter that took a good few minutes to die down.

"Okay, okay, my turn…" Hiccup still had trouble keeping a straight face. "Best friend? Mine is Toothless, though Astrid is close second."

"Angus." Merida answered. Rapunzel smiled.

"Pascal."

"Mine is Jamie." Jack grinned. "Hey, notice how it's always a pair of human and… er… creature? With everyone, except me and Jamie."

Hiccup snorted. "Says the Spirit of Winter." Jack's grin grew.

"Okay, smart mouth, fair point. My turn, um… Okay, here goes a cliché, hobbies? Personally I don't think I have one – though I adore flying and snowball fights."

"So you don't have one but two hobbies." Rapunzel grinned herself. "I myself have a lot – chess, ballet, baking, reading, knitting, you get it; but my passion's definitely drawing."

"What a coincidence – I like both flying and drawing!" Hiccup smiled. " I also like inventing, guess you'd call it – I kinda have a knack for it, if I do say so myself."

"I'd've ta be ridin' an' archery fer meh. An'… an' needlepoint as well." Merida admitted a bit sheepishly. "Yer turn, Blondie, ask away."

"What do you wish for?"

"Tough one." The princess murmured. "It may seem strange after all I did but… I wish mah fate never lies too far away from mah family." Hiccup smiled warmly.

"Why, it's not strange – you changed after that experience, didn't you? Your bond grew stronger." He then sighed. "I wish I could balance between who my dad wants me to be and who I am. The fact that I have yet to find who I am is a whole other question… On a more cheerful note, I wish to explore as much of the world as I can."

Jack chuckled, then mused: "I wish there's always someone who believes in me." They turned to Rapunzel who smiled a bit sadly.

"I wish for the floating lights."

They grew silent for some time, then all four of them murmured: "And for freedom too." They looked at each other and smiled, every one of them feeling as if the others were their long-lost siblings.

"Guys, do you have a safe place?" Hiccup asked after a bit. The other three looked at him questioningly. He gestured vaguely in the air. "You know, a place that's like… all yours. Where no matter how vile the world's been to you lately everything seems better and brighter. It's like a sacred place where nothing could go wrong."

"Oh, I know that feeling!" Rapunzel smiled. "That's the windowsill for me – it's the closest to the outer world and… well, when I'm there I think about the lights and become happier."

Jack chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I get that too, though for me it's not so much windowsills as the very moments of observing… I like watching happy people, I guess that's the thing…"

"I think… I think mine's in da forest – I spent a great deal o' mah youth there." Merida admited. "Whut's yer safe place, Hiccup?"

"Mine?" He smiled, closing his eyes. "In the sky, clouds and winds all around. When it's only Toothless and me." The Night Fury cooed affectionately in his light slumber.

After a bit of silence Merida spoke up: "D'ye have a… uh… how d'ye view yerselves in, say, ten years' time?" Their smiles dropped and Hiccup groaned.

"Trying to live up to my father's chieftain legacy… I really hope he doesn't retire yet, though, he's the best chief Berk's ever had…"

The Scottish princess patted his shoulder. "Same here, lad, only with mah mom." Jack and Rapunzel sighed simultaneously, musing their thoughts in bitter voices.

"Being same old me, decade after decade."

"Stuck in the same old tower, decade after decade."

The four of them quietened and it was a thick, unfriendly silence. Jack couldn't stand it longer.

"I say we abandon that depressive topic, let's tell each other stories instead! There was this one time, in '68…"

They stayed up late that night and the whole valley was booming with their laughter.

 **A/N: Yep, here we go - a little information on her majesty the villain and some Big Four bonding time (and embarrasing Bunny too!) Yeah, sorry for the second part of the chapter, it was purely character analysis... But I had to, people! Feel free to point out mistakes, flaws, etc.**

 **[1]: I've no idea when the movies are set but if we say that HTTYD and Brave happened around 10-11th century and Tangled around 15-16th, then the average when my story is set would be the 13-14th century and at that time Bulgaria (that's my country) didn't _technically_ exist as it was devided in three and then reigned over by the Turkish. By that I mean no offence whatsoever, it happened like half a millenium ago! On that note - when writing a fanfic, most people add in OCs or themselves, no, not me, I manage to add in my entire country! XD  
[2]: What I quoted is a real actual book on folklore whose title I won't put here because it'd be a pain to translate and you wouldn't care either way and let me just disclaim and state that all the quotes belong to that same book and its rightful owners and be done with it. All in italics is content from the book, I only translated it - and I'm so proud of myself for that! **  
**[3]: The correct term is actually 'samovila' or 'vila', but since J.K. Rowling was kind enough to save me the trouble, I'll use her version. So the word 'veela' belongs to J.K. Rowling.**

 **The results of the contest came out, I got a small prize, yay, anyway.**

 _ **Reviews:  
koala789:**_ **Love you too! Enjoy the cliffhanger-less chapter, there won't be another for a while. :***


	9. Chapter 8

When Rapunzel woke up the next morning, she wondered if the whole meeting-four-new-friends event from yesterday had been just a dream. The silence that laid over the tower almost convinced her so she went downstairs desperate for an answer.

It was determined – yesterday _hadn't_ been a dream.

"Mornin', lass!" Merida greeted, fighting to at least _somewhat_ tame her hair. Jack was sitting a little farther, feeding Pascal with different kinds of berries; the chameleon then turned the respective colour to amuse him. He smiled at the blonde.

"Hiccup's outside with Toothless, I think they're trying to catch some fish."

She raised an eyebrow. "They should've just asked, I think I have a couple of fish in the kitchen."

"That wouldn't have worked." They turned around to see Hiccup smiling at them through the window, large black wings flapping on either side of him. "Do you know how many fish does a dragon devour for breakfast?"

"Ten?" she guessed. The Viking chuckled.

"Yeah, try adding a zero and you'll be right. Anyway, we – that's Toothless and me – will be waiting outside. When you're ready to go, just shout."

"Okay, let me just brush my hair and pack a few things, it won't be long."

Hiccup nodded and he and the wings disappeared.

Rapunzel turned around just in time to see Jack stifling a laugh. "What's so funny?"

He grinned at her. "I think you got your words mixed up, there's no way you intended to use 'brush my hair' and 'not long' in the same sentence."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up, I've been doing this for 17 years, I'm used to it – in fact, I'm even pretty fast!"

"Okay…" He lifted his hands in mock surrender, failing miserably to fight his grin.

* * *

When the blonde finally put the hairbrush down Jack was exasperated.

"Not long?! Since when half an hour is not long?"

"Since I'm the one holding a frying pan!" Her thread wasn't empty - she did indeed hold a frying pan which brought the Guardian some less than pleasant memories.

Fortunately, Merida interrupted Jack's fruitless attempts to think of a comeback. "As much fun as this is, we have ta get goin' or we'll never reach da camp where Angus is. I'll go call Hiccup." Rapunzel huffed at Jack's sheepish grin and left to pack her things.

Upon her return ten minutes later (her hair safely done in a braid) she saw the already familiar black shape of the Night Fury who was conversing with her own reptile; Hiccup, Jack and Merida were talking a little farther. The Viking saw her and smiled.

"You ready, Punzie? You and Merida will be flying with Toothless and me – it isn't really spacious, but I hope you'll be comfortable. And anyhow, it'll be far more comfortable than if one of you two had to be carried by Jack – for both you and him… Uh, we'll need quite a big head start since the window's small and Toothless' wingspan is so big, would you move over here, bud? That's it. So, um, hop on, I guess."

The blonde picked Pascal up and climbed behind Hiccup with his help. She clinged to him tightly, wondering how fast a dragon could go and starting to get minor cold feet about the whole thing. In a few seconds Merida was behind her.

"How long d'ye reckon it'll take?"

Hiccup shrugged. "It took us one night to get here but I think the way back will be shorter since we flew with the lanterns before and they move at the speed of the wind and -"

"What was that supposed to mean?" Jack asked, faking offence; Hiccup ignored him.

"-Toothless is faster than that. I reckon about two or three hours at the most." He then glanced worriedly over his shoulder at Rapunzel. "You ought to know that Toothless takes of rather, uh… rather harshly and, um, it-it might scare you a bit."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine!" she assured.

"Okay then. You ready, bud?"

Toothless snorted in confirmation and spread his wings. Jack waved at them as he flew out of the window. The Viking grinned at Rapunzel over his shoulder, an unfamiliar gleam in his eyes.

"Hold fast." He then shouted "Come on, bud!" and the blonde screamed as the Night Fury took off at a tremendous speed. In the blink of an eye they were out of the tower and when Rapunzel finally opened her eyes, she found herself surrounded by clouds and blue skies. The wind's howl in her ears had decreased drastically – Toothless was now gliding.

"I figured you'd prefer a calmer first flight!"

She looked at Hiccup who was smiling at her again. She had a feeling he hadn't stopped.

"We're usually way faster – you can ask Jack about that." The Viking snickered as Jack (who was flying lazily at their side) scoffed indignantly and continued: "How do you like flying so far?"

"It's…"

Rapunzel looked around at a loss for words. Far down was lying her cove, more beautiful than she'd ever seen it.

"I know, Blondie," Merida patted her shoulder, "flyin' is one o' da things that make meh forget everythin'."

"That's cool and all," Jack interrupted, "but I must disagree with your veiled remark, oh great dragon conqueror, that you and Toothless are faster than I am."

Hiccup grinned at him. "If I remember correctly, which I usually do, we did beat you back when we were leaving Berk."

Jack dismissed his argument with a wave. "Pure luck, you won't have it again."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so you want another race, oh great spirit of cold and frost?" Jack grinned at him.

Rapunzel nudged him. "Go ahead, Hiccup, don't mind us."

"Yeah," Merida agreed, "I'd love ta see Toothless' speed!"

"Okay then," the brunette smirked at the Winter Spirit, "it's on! You can have a 15 seconds head start."

Jack's grin grew. "See ya!" he yelled and shot forward.

The Viking chuckled and turned to the girls. "Maybe I should've let him know Toothless is the fastest dragon there is… But that's no harm, is it?" The girls gaped slightly at him; he grinned even wider. "Now you'd better hold fast, his 15 seconds are almost over."

Hiccup felt Rapunzel tighten her grip around him and looked back briefly to see Merida doing the same. He then grabbed hold of the saddle, shifted the pedal that controlled the artificial tailfin and murmured: "Ready?" The girls felt the dragon's body stiffen beneath them as Hiccup stated: "His head start time is over."

And with one powerful flap of the black wings Toothless shot forward, flying faster than the speed of sound. Only now did Rapunzel and Merida understand the unfamiliar gleam in the Viking's eyes – it was the thrill of flying so fast and so high off the ground, the unusual yet amazing and exhilarating sense of freedom that washed all over them; they both loved every piece of it.

Flying as fast as they were, they were bound to catch up to Jack in no time. They did indeed, and in less than 15 seconds; when the black blur zoomed past him, the Guardian yelped in surprise of the sheer speed the dragon wielded. To do him justice, he was fairly quick to catch up, even if he found them – well, Toothless – gliding lazily. Again.

"What's it with you and lazy gliding?" Jack teased, his wide grin in place.

"What's it with you and loosing races?" Hiccup teased back, mirroring him. The spirit laughed.

"Touché, sir! I must admit, that was some pretty impressive flying."

"Why, thank you, you're not bad yourself."

Jack rolled his eyes at him. "What do you want to do now?"

They chatted animatedly for the rest of the flight. Jack did a few loop-de-loops once in a while, but Hiccup wasn't willing to risk his new friends' safety so he decided to save the tricks for when he was once more the Lone Dragon Rider.

Upon their landing they were met with a happy neigh.

"Angus!" Merida shouted, swiftly hopping off Toothless to run to her colt, who nuzzled in her shoulder affectionally. "How've ye been, lad? Took care o' yerself these past two days?" The horse neighed again, making the redhead smile broadly. "C'mere, Rapunzel, let meh introduce ye ta Angus!"

As had happened with Toothless, the colt immediately took a liking to the blonde, as seemed to do all animals she encountered. Jack though it was a talent of hers, kind of like Hiccup's thing for training dragons. Maybe because of that and maybe not, but they spent the whole evening talking about their encounters with animals. Which happened to be _a lot_ and so it was for that reason that most of them slept in late the next morning.

This time the first to wake up was Jack – spirits didn't actually need sleep but he still did so every once in a while, mostly when he was extremely tired. Seeing how early it was (the dawn hadn't even cracked yet) he climbed onto his staff out of habit and drifted into his own head, deep in though. He still remembered Pitch and wondered how powerful exactly that unknown witch would be and would they be able to handle her. Just one look at his sleeping new friends brought a smile to his lips. He was confident that they all would make it through, even if right now they looked too… well… cute – Merida was leaning into Angus' kneeled form, Rapunzel was snuggled in her own hair, Hiccup's head was resting on Toothless' paws. Jack shook his head bemused and got lost in though once again.

When only an hour remained to noon Rapunzel finally woke up. Normally only Merida slept in, but the late night talk had exhausted them all. Brushing the sleep off her eyelashes, the blonde stretched and proceeded to make breakfast – surprisingly – unnoticed by Jack. He and the other two teenagers were woken up 15 minutes later by a delicious smell.

"How in the name of everything that is fun did you manage to make pancakes in the wild?!" Jack exclaimed with a mixture of incredibility, excitement and hunger, but mainly the latter. (What? Spirits don't need food, that doesn't mean they can't eat it!) And then another feeling was added to the pile of emotions – indignant disbelief (complete with a gaping mouth), kindly brought by Hiccup's question.

"What are pancakes?"

Merida rolled her eyes at the spirit. "Honestly, Jack! The lad lives in a different background, he can' possibly know whut pancakes are! Don't mind him," she continued, turning to Hiccup, "those're basically jus' that – cakes cooked in a pan. They're delicious, really – bit like some sort o' sweet bread, ye'll like them."

"Uh, okay."

"Hey, guys, you know what makes pancakes even better?" Rapunzel asked while evenly separating the breakfast in plates she took God-knows-where-from. "Strawberry jam! Dig in!"

Ten minutes of hard work later the quartet was all good and ready to start the week-long journey to Scotland. But…

"I can't believe it, you're worse than Bunnymund! I've only ever lost races to him and this toothpick here!" Jack snapped, a bit fed up with all the teasing. Merida (who was responsible for his rant) rolled her eyes.

"Calm down, would ye?"

"No, I have every right to be indignant! If you want to rub this in my face then you'll have to race me yourself."

"With pleasure!" the princess grinned, immediately mounting Angus. Jack yelled a "Go!" and they shot forward, leaving two dumbfounded green-eyed teenagers behind.

Hiccup blinked. "What happened?"

Rapunzel shook her head to snap out of it and shrugged, starting to tidy up the remaining scattered things. "I think they left us for the sole purpouse of proving who's faster. And it's quite unfair towards us."

"You're right," Hiccup nodded, "quite unfair. Now we'll have to wait for them in the next camp."

Rapunzel sighed. "Yeah. How can they always forget the fastest dragon there is when he's such an adorable creature?" The adorable creature grinned toothlessly at her.

Hiccup chuckled, hopping in the saddle. "C'mon, let's get going. You know, we never even finished our conversation on art, did we?"

"No, we didn't." The blonde climbed behind him, taking the little luggage they had. "That's gotta be fixed."

And so it was that when Jack and Merida got to the next camp almost at the same time they found a fire glowing, a pot of soup simmering and their green-eyed friends in a deep conversation.

"You have to remember though," Rapunzel was saying, "never use a pure colour, like straight from the tube, you should mix it so that it has… Oh, hey guys, remember us – the people you left behind to race each other?"

Jack's and Merida's laughter could be heard from a couple of miles away.

* * *

The journey slipped by and all too soon the quartet was back on Scottish land. Or, to be precise, in the circle of stone pillars.

"Your parents were really nice, Merida!" Rapunzel praised. "Your mother has really lovely hair! Now, where is that witch's cottage?"

"That way." The princess pointed to a path that was winding its way into the thicker, darker part of the forest.

It wasn't too long before they found themselves in front of the hill-like cottage. Merida cautiously led the way inside – after all, one could never be too careful if they'd been nearly beheaded while entering. To the redhead's relief, the interior was filled to the brim with carvings and from the corner came a steady _knock-knock_ – the witch was working.

"Hello, hello, dear princess!"

The teens jumped in surprise – somehow, the witch was right behind them, putting the finishing touches on a bear that bore an uncanny resemblance to Cupid.

"Look arou-"

And it was at that moment that she noticed the other three.

"Ah, clients! Welcome ta da 'Crafty Carver', home o' bear-themed carvin's an' novelties! Take a look, don' be shy – oh, this," she rushed to a chessboard, "This is one o' a kind! An' this-"

"Actually," Rapinzel interrupted, "what we need is some information. On, uh, witches."

The witch waved her off. "Ohoho, dear, I'm no witch, I'm a simple woodcarver." And she went back to her work.

"But… Merida told us all about you!" Rapunzel tried.

The witch, however, just sang: "Woodcarver!..."

"Okay, this is just getting ridiculous." Jack muttered, then stomped his staff to the ground and creating a powerful gust of wind that shushed everyone. He focused on the witch. "We know that you're a witch, okay?"

She tried to argue but Hiccup cut her. "Look, we don't want prophecies or any spells or… or for you to turn us into bears or something, okay? Just help us with a bit of information and we'll go back on our quest or whatever it is."

"Sounds plausible ta meh." A voice by them croaked; it turned out to belong to the crow they all though was stuffed.

The witch groaned. "Fine! Whut'd'ye need mah help fer?"

Jack was about to open his mouth but Hiccup stopped him with a stern expression. " _Short_ version, please."

The Guardian grinned at him, then explained: "Someone's taking Man in Moon's powers and we figured out it was a witch."

"We wondered if you'd happen to know who it might be?" Rapunzel added hopefully.

The witch started fiddling with her left earring, deep in though. "It jus' might be her…"

"Fairly big possibility!" the crow croaked in agreement.

"Who might be?" the blonde asked.

"Baba Yaga."

 **A/N: It's technically Wednesday evening but bleh. Not much of a cliffhanger, especially if you happen to know who Baba Yaga is... But fear not, action begins soon. Oh dear, I'm bad at action scenes... Ah well you'll have to be kind enough and forgive me. And if I'm that bad you could always abandon the story.**

 _ **Reviews:**_

 _ **koala789:**_ **Thank you for the reassuring, I was nervous if the whole meeting-these-random-people-and-random-animals-and-becoming-an-inseparable-team-out-of-the-blue thing seemed rushed and unnatural. So maybe it didn't, yay, thanks again! And I don't think you got me right, what I said was that there won't be much cliffhanger-less chapters from now on. XD**


	10. Chapter 9

"Uh, bless ye?" Merida asked more than stated. The witch laughed.

"Ohoho, dear, I didn' sneeze, it was her name – Baba Yaga."

"What kind of name is that?" Jack chuckled, looking at the Viking; the latter raised his hands as if in surrender.

"Don't look here, I've never heard a weirder name in my life."

"Oh yeah? What about Snotlout, Fishlegs, Mildew, Bucket, and don't get me started with your own!"

"Yeah, okay, point taken, but female names are usually normal, you know?"

"So Ruffnut's normal?"

"I said usually, didn't I?"

"Guys!" Rapunzel cut them. "We kind of have more important work right now – like finding out who that Baba Yaga person is."

The boys mumbled an apology and turned to the witch who continued as if nothing had happened.

"It might as well not be her, I mean she's not really evil anymore, more o' a wicked ol' hag actually. Still, she's one o' da most powerful witches 'round, has been since she was a lass. If mah memory serves meh well, she lives somewhere at the border o' Russia and Finland, quite da boggy place if ye ask meh… But I've heard she's been helpin' some Russian princes lately so I don' know if she's whut ye're lookin' fer, even with that moon obsession o' hers…"

"Uh-huh…" Merida drawled confused. "Well, thank ye very much."

"Oh, it's no problem, princess, I'll always lend a hand if ye need help!"

The crow croaked in confirmation. The teens bid the strange pair farewell and left.

"Well, what do you think?" Jack asked while waiting for his friends to mount their animal companions. Hiccup shrugged.

"Eh, her words were totally contradictory but that moon obsession thing intrigued me a bit, so I guess it's worth a shot." Jack nodded.

"My thoughts exactly. What do you girls think?"

"Well, we don't really have any other options, do we?" Rapunzel mused.

Merida added: "I say we go, da trial an' error method's jus' fine in mah opinion."

"It's decided then," the Guardian grinned, "let's go find this Baba Yaga person! It can't be hard, the journey's gonna be two weeks only, three tops!"

His cheerfulness was met with collective groans.

* * *

Three days later the quartet found themselves walking in a gorge by a small river, happily engulfed in a conversation.

"Ye guys," Merida interrupted, "why's da river so small? It was definitely wider in mah map."

"There's a village nearby, right?" Rapunzel asked rhetorically. "Maybe the villagers made a dam or something - you know, like a lake."

The others nodded and they went back to their original conversation.

* * *

"… I mean, isn't it strange? Do people just get along so well that fast?" Hiccup asked. Merida shrugged.

"Yeah, why not? Some people're jus' alike an' they click immediately – jus' like that." And she snapped her fingers.

"Oh, maybe it's like when you meet your soulmate!" Rapunzel exclaimed, then eyed the others. "Not that that's any of you guys, no offence…" Merida laughed aloud; the boys snorted.

"Look, you're overthinking it," Jack stated, "the truth is that we're just awesome!"

"Oh, wow," Hiccup laughed, "so modest…"

"Hey, it's true." Jack defended with a large grin, making Rapunzel giggle.

Merida waved her arm at them as if to say 'shut up'.

"Whoa, whoa, princess, only becau-"

But the redhead shushed him again. "D'ye hear that?"

The group fell silent and sure enough their ears picked up a low rumble.

"That's not you, bud, is it?" Hiccup turned to his dragon, but the reptile wasn't making a sound.

"It sounds like a blizzard…" Jack mused. The blonde nodded.

"Or like the waterfall back at my cove."

"Or like runnin' horses." Merida added.

"It sounds," Hiccup corrected them, "like crashing waves."

Just then the cause of the noise appeared round a turn of the narrow gorge and the four were met with a horrifying sight – a giant wave of water, white with foam, was racing towards them. They turned around, but the end of the valley was impossibly far for running and not all of them could fly – they had no way to outrun the flood. The teens frantically looked around for something – anything – that could be of help.

"Up there!" Rapunzel pointed to a relatively high rock column. "It will be above the water! But how will we get Angus to there?"

"Don't worry, I've got it!" the Viking assured, jumping on Toothless; the dragon grabbed Angus with his front paws and got to the top in no time. Jack quickly followed, flying Rapunzel up to the stone terrace and Merida started climbing on her own. Suddenly, just when the Guardian was putting the blonde back on her feet, a cry sounded from below – the princess had slipped. It was a miracle they heard it, the roar of the angry waters was nearly deafening by now. Jack shot downwards, catching Merida in the last possible moment; he started lifting her up. But his abrupt move had left Rapunzel unbalanced; despite waving her arms madly about she couldn't regain her balance and fell off the edge with a cry before Hiccup's very eyes. She managed to grab a thin edge a dozen feet below the top but only with the tips of her fingers and it would be below the surface of the ever-coming waters.

"Hold on, Punzie!" the Viking called to her as he slid to a lower stone ledge, but it was still far above her. They had less than half a minute now.

The brunette lowered himself to another, far narrower ledge and stuck his good leg in a hole for more stability – he feared his metal leg would slip on the smooth rock. He crouched, reaching for the blonde. Rapunzel managed to grab his hand just as Jack got Merida to the top; Hiccup hoisted her up to where he was standing, helping her find where to put her feet.

And they ran out of time.

Jack and Merida's cries of warning were drowned in the waters that came raging and swirling and trying to peel the two teens off the rock; the current pulled at them with mighty power. The only thing that held the two was Hiccup's leg, still stuck in that hole; the Viking could only pray to the gods it wouldn't budge. He focused on keeping hold of Rapunzel's hands as she had no other support.

After the initial wave the water level lowered enough for Jack to help. He did so in the first moment possible, almost desperate to feel helpful; he flew down to them and hoisted them back to the top one by one – Rapunzel first and Hiccup second. As soon as the two were brought to safety, they were ferociously attacked with licking by their very own reptiles who'd been worrying together uptil now.

"Everyone alright?" Merida asked concerned. The blonde looked at herself.

"I think so…" She smiled at the redhead.

Suddenly, an angry exclamation rang out. "Oh, come on! I lost the other one already!"

The group jerkily turned to Hiccup who was scowling at his right leg – the one that'd been stuck in the hole and had consequently been the two teens' lifeline. It was swollen and bruised around the ankle, where the sharp rim of the hole had been pressed to the skin. All in all, it looked broken.

"Oh, Hiccup, I'm so sorry!" Rapunzel exclaimed guiltily, fiddling with her hair. The Viking waved her off.

"It's okay, Punzie, it's not your fault anyway, I should've used my peg leg." He sighed. "Guess we'll be camping here tonight." Indeed, the sky was swiftly darkening.

Jack shook his head. "Forget that, what are we going to do about your leg? I know next to nothing about healing."

"We could make a splint with one o' mah arrows, but it in no way guarantees it'll heal properly…" Merida murmured, kicking a rock. It fell in the now calm waters below with a small _plop!_.

"I could help."

The three looked at Rapunzel who was unbraiding the last tangles of her braid, her long golden hear lying in a wet heap behind her.

She finished and repeated: "I could heal him."

She stepped between her confused friends and kneeled next to the brunette, carefully wrapping a lock around his injury; despite his attempts he couldn't suppress a small grunt of pain. She then looked at Pascal, who nodded encouragingly, took a breath and looked up at the others.

"Just… promise not to freak out."

The blonde closed her eyes, inhaled deeply again and started singing.

 _Flower, gleam and glow,_

Immediately the roots of her hair lit up with an unearthly light.

 _Let your power shine,  
Make the clock reverse,  
Bring back what once was mine… _

The three teens watched transfixed as the glow flowed down the long golden locks, engulfing them in some strange angelic aura.

 _Heal what has been hurt,  
Change the fate's design, _

The glow had now reached the locks wrapped around Hiccup's leg, thus surrounding him with pale golden light. Gradually, the pain in his leg subdued.

 _Save what has been lost,  
Bring back what once was mine, _

Twilight had fallen in the gorge and Rapunzel's glowing hair was the only source of light. Its gleam reflected in the three's eyes and in the dark waters below.

 _What once was mine…_

With the end of the song the glow gradually faded.

 **A/N: It's a short chapter, sorry, but I think it feels finished like that. And it required lots of editing - you have no idea how horrible it was before and how OOC the guys were... If they still are, please tell me!**

 **I know, I know, the action scene (if it can be called so) was bleh. Could you give me feedback on what I can do to make it better and more easy-flowing? Thanks!**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hiya! The Author's notes will be at the top from now on, I don't want to ruin the nice cliffhangers. :D Skip this if you want to.  
So, this chapter is quite special as the ending is one of the first scenes I came up with. I hope it goes good.  
Also - today the forth book of a fic I adore comes out so I'm super excited! Yay! (Sorry about that...)  
On another note, what do I get this guy friend of mine for his birthday? He's into chemistry, League of Legends, pandas and koalas. ****Oh, I said koala, review time!  
 _koala789:_ You're officially the one who makes my every Thursday/Friday! And it doesn't make sense. :D  
 _The Guest who signed Flo dot HaddockIII:_ Thank you for the nice words! I really wanted to make this a creative fic so here come some less known mythical creatures! And yeah, for some weird reason, I enjoy that too... Mwahaha, you'll see! Frankly you have no idea what I have in mind...**

* * *

"Oh, in the name of Freya's infinite beauty…"

Hiccup was glancing back and forth between Rapunzel and his now healed leg, unable to say anything else. Merida was staring at the golden locks, chanting like a broken record: "I can' believe it… I can' believe it…" Jack was like a fish out of water – opening and closing his mouth, failing to say a word. Finally, he gave up and turned to the blonde.

"Punzie?" She smiled sheepishly at them.

"I have magic hair that glows when I sing." She then sighed and frowned slightly. "It has the ability to heal the sick and injured, all I have to do is sing the special song. But… if it's cut…" She brushed back a few locks by her neck to reveal a single brown one, no longer than a few inches. "… It looses that power. Mother says that when I was a baby people tried to cut it, to have it for themselves. She says such a gift has to be protected, that's why… That's why I've never left my tower." She sighed again.

The silence was put to an end by Merida, the first to shake the shock off.

"That's… amazin', Blondie. 'M glad ye confided in us. An' don' worry, yer secret's safe with us!" The boys nodded enthusiastically; the blonde smiled.

"Thank you! Now we'd better get some sleep, we have to find a way out of this gorge tomorrow."

* * *

"You guys," Jack addressed the others, "there's the dam! Or, you know, there _was_ the dam." The four laughed.

It was late morning on the next day and they had found their way by the – now considerably wider – river to where the dam had been.

The place was a complete and utter mess, equal to the disaster that had befallen it. The granite wall supported a giant hole; stones and uprooted trees littered the area; everything was demolished, wet or muddy. The teens and their animal companions made their way up a path by the dam wall that had miraculously survived the flood. They slipped and fell all the way up the tricky track and by the time they got to the top each and every one of them was covered head to toe (or tail in the case of the animals) in mud. Pascal had it the worst – he'd had the misfortune of loosing his grip on Rapunzel's shoulder, thus falling in a puddle of mud and successfully turning some deer's footprints in a chameleon's silhouette.

"Ugh!" Merida groaned, examining her originally-red-but-currently-brown curls that hung damp around her face. She lifted her gaze to the other three. "Whut do we do now?" Jack smirked.

"This."

And he waved his staff, making a blast of wind send the redhead tumbling down and into the water on their side of the dam wall. She emerged coughing and spitting water but grinning none the less.

"Jack!" she yelled good-naturally, "I'll get ye!" The spirit just laughed.

Rapunzel shook her head fondly at the two and looked at Hiccup.

"Could we fly with Toothless for a bit so that the mud dries and then we can brush it off?" The Viking smiled.

"I think it just might work. Hop on!"

The pair took off just as Jack yelled: "Cannon ball!", which was followed by a loud _splash!_ and a shriek.

"Again?! That's it, Frost, ye little-" But the two on the dragon got too high and the rest of her words couldn't be heard.

Hiccup shifted the pedal to stop their ascent and turn it to gliding. "I think it's working!" Rapunzel yelled in his ear.

… But Toothless had other plans.

The dragon furled his wings, sending himself and his two riders plummeting to the lake below. Hiccup and Rapunzel yelled in shock but the collision with the water quickly shut them up. Toothless emerged from the lake then dived a few more times; finally he did an excessively sharp turn that threw his riders in the waters, consequently making his tailfin useless and sending himself underwater as well.

The two resurfaced coughing and spitting water and breathing heavily – to the background sound of Jack and Merida laughing and splashing each other. The unfortunate riders looked around only to find the black dragon laughing at them.

"Toothless!" Hiccup whined; the blonde cried angrily and splashed the big reptile. Suddenly she gasped and started frantically looking around.

"Pascal? Pascal!"

"Don't you worry," Hiccup coughed, then took the reptile in question out of his vest's pocket, "he's been here the whole time." He gave the chameleon to his owner then whined at Toothless again. " _Why_ would you _do_ that, bud?"

"Don't scold him," Jack yelled from a few meters away, "he did clean you two up, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but now we're soaking wet, all of us…" Hiccup replied jumping on one leg to get the water out of his right ear. The Guardian grinned.

"It's an occupational hazard!"

The Viking froze for a second, then slowly looked him in the eye, a smirk growing on his lips.

"Oh, no, ye didn'!" Merida laughed at Jack.

Seconds later he was ferociously attacked by the brunette who yelled "Phrase lifter! Thief!". It soon turned to a full-on water fight in which everyone took part – both teens and animals, even Angus. Eventually.

* * *

"… and that's why you never dare the princess of Scotland to do a summersault dive underwater." The end of Jack's tale was marked with a burst of laughter.

After the water fight the friends had travelled for a couple of more hours, then settled in a nice big lawn on the border of a forest. Now the evening was falling and the fast-approaching darkness was kept at bay by a large campfire. The friends were sitting on its side surrounded by Rapunzel's hair which was left down, the golden locks winding their way all over the lawn. (Because you can't very well dry hair if it's in a braid, now, can you?)

"Hey, Jack, I was meaning to ask, why didn't the water freeze? Almost everything you touch does." The Guardian grinned at Rapunzel's curious expression.

"That is a mystery that'll remain a mystery…" The blonde raised an eyebrow; the others laughed.

"Okay, mah turn now." Merida announced. "That's a story o' a faraway forest, dark an' thick an' twisted. There lived monsters so scary that no legend tells o' them."

As if on cue, the fire started twinkling and wavering; the teens huddled closer to each other (but not because chills were slowly running down their spines, how dare thee suggest such an outrage?). Merida continued.

"In comparison with these, every dragon," she eyed Hiccup with a small smirk, "even da feared unholy offsprin' o' lightnin' an' death itself would tremble!" The Viking and his dragon snorted in unison; the redhead wrinkled her nose teasingly at them and went on. "An' every evenin' as soon as da sun sets da wolves flee in fear o' da monsters in the deep o' da forest, an' the fallin' o' da night is announced by their scared howls…"

And a bone-chilling howl rose in the darkness.

"Ha, good job, Jack!" Merida laughed. The spirit shrugged.

"Yeah, but it wasn't me."

"It wasn' ye?" the princess repeated. "Then who…"

Another howl answered the first one. And another. And another. And another. The darkness hid the howlers and their number but it was clear as day that the teens were surrounded.

"Who's that?" Rapunzel whispered. Jack pointed to the trees.

"Look!"

A pair of lights was twinkling just outside the lit area – eyes. Upon noticing their looks, the owner of the eyes produced a low growl which was multiplied by its comrades. The teens turned back to back with solemn faces. Jack aimed his staff at the eyes; Merida put an arrow at the ready; Angus huddled at her side; Hiccup transformed his Gronckle Iron shield into a crossbow; Toothless was ready to fire a blast any moment; Pascal was peeking from a satchel on his saddle; Rapunzel grabbed her frying pan in her left arm and a lock of hair in her right. She then whipped it towards another pair of eyes that had just flickered to life, driving their owner into the light for a moment. The brief view of doggish body and grey fur was followed by a menacing growl.

"Wolves!" Hiccup uttered.

As soon as he did all hell broke loose.

Dozens of wolves sprang over the border of the light and into the lawn, from every side – all at once. The teens counterattacked as one – Rapunzel's hair flew fast and accurate as a whip and golden and dangerous as a lightning; ice cracked as Jack set it on the wolves; Hiccup released arrow after arrow with a dull sound; Merida's bow was singing. The battle went on and on, neither side willing to give up.

Eventually the attacks subdued and stopped altogether. The quartet looked around, breathing heavily, then briefly glanced at each other and around again.

"Guys!" Merida alerted, pointing them at the very border of the ring of light. A lone wolf was standing there, staring at them with unwolfly intelligent, violently bright violet orbs. As it locked eyes with them more wolves came out of the shadows and lined behind the lone one. It suddenly howled an almighty howl and all the wolves pounced; just then a powerful blast of wind tossed the group and their animal friends on the ground. When they got up there was no sign of the beasts – as if they'd been sand-made and the wind had demolished them or blown them away. After a few shaky breaths the teens cheered.

It took them some time to notice that there were only three of them.


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: Guys, guys, guys! Okay, Arwen, calm down... Alright. So, this is a very special chapter for me for two reasons. One, there's this part of it that was one of the first things I came up with for the story, like, at all. Two, I'm writing the story in this small notepad and guess what? It's done! Including this chapter, I've typed and posted the whole of it! Now I'm writing in a new notepad and I'm feeling super proud that I managed to finish an entire one already!**

 **Anyway, enough blabber, onto the reviews! (I have to say, I loved the reactons, all of them! Thank you!)  
 _Jinxxs:_ Haha, okay!  
 _MoonyRJLupin:_ You're very welcome :) Updates come every Thursday.  
 _koala789:_ No, don't go off in the woods! Stay with me! ... Oh, a metaphor? Uh-huh, got it. Anyway... Well, huh, hehe, I'm not gonna lie, that was the exact reaction I hoped to get... Don't kill me!  
 _FloHaddockIII:_ No, don't worry, I love using "dot dot dot"-s. And to be perfectly honest... Ugh, this will be embarrassing... (There, you see - "dot dot dot"!) The water was actually a plot hole. Like, a giant one. I had already written the whole scene and got to the fire and then it clicked that the lake should've frozen and I just didn't know what to do with it and there you go, bleh... ("Dot dot dot" again... And again. I'm sure there was this long and complicated word for it... Again XD) As for the second comment, you'll have to wait and see. ;) (You're terrificly creative by the way! You should write your own fanfic! I know I would read it... Again XD)**

* * *

Something moved in the utter darkness: a person. They looked around as if not knowing where they were… which was weird, and ridiculous – they looked at home in the dark. In a bit a staircase could be made out, and a lever on the wall by it; due to the lack of light everything adopted a cold, dreadful, scary aura. The outlines were vague, as if the barely seen objects were made of shadows, or black sand, changing every moment. The person moved; something golden flickered, radiating a sense of hidden power. Then a familiar voice called.

Jack jolted awake with a yell, startling the others that had gathered above him. Breathing heavily, he looked them in the eye.

"What happened?"

"Don' ye remember?" Merida asked concerned. "After da wolves were gone we noticed Rapunzel was too. Da moment I said it ye passed out." Jack's eyes moved from hers to Hiccup's who nodded. The Guardian rubbed his head distractedly.

"I… think I had another vision and there was this person in it… Maybe it's where she is now…"

Catching onto his uncertainty, Hiccup looked up at the sky. "The moon's full tonight… I-I'm sure Man in Moon looks after you, that must've been from him…"

"Whut'd'ye see exactly?" Merida pressed.

Jack described it as accurately as he could, then hesitated but added: "I think Pitch has her."

The other two looked at each other doubtfully. Noticing that, the spirit insisted: "It must be him, I'm sure what I saw was his lair!"

"But that's across the ocean…" Hiccup reasoned.

Merida stated: "Jack, from whut ye've told us I know ye've da habit o' divin' head first inta things but we've ta think this through carefully. D'ye even know if Pitch exists at this point o' time?"

"Yes, the Guardians once said they banished him in the Dark Ages and no offence, but that's right about now."

"Be reasonable," Hiccup intervened, "I think it's a bit far-fetched to assume that Punzie's now in… America or whatever, _across the ocean_ …" The spirit shook his head.

"No, I know it's true, I _felt_ Pitch's presence."

"Jack…"

He snapped: "Hiccup, I know Pitch!"

"And I know you!" the Viking retorted, raising his voice. "You'd do anything for the ones that matter to you, you'd go headfirst in danger for them – you're a Guardian, it's what you do! And-and maybe whoever took Punzie – Baba Yaga most probably – is trying to play with that side of yours, to mess with your head and put you off their track! I _do_ believe the vision was from Man in Moon, but if Baba Yaga is taking his power maybe she could've had the means to meddle with it, or at least with the way you interpret it. _Please_ , don't grab the first opportunity, don't rush – you know bad things happen if you do, you yourself are a proof, Merida and I are!"

He stopped for a moment to gaze at Jack intently, his breathing heavy; Jack had recoiled, surprise peeking from his icy blue orbs. Merida shuffled nervously a little farther.

Hiccup sighed. "J-just think it through, okay?" Jack smiled softly and nodded.

"Okay, Dragon Boy." The Viking in question suppressed an eye roll, a small smile tugging at his lips.

Merida then butt in: "Okay, lads, shall we look at this vision once more?"

"Yeah," Hiccup nodded, "Jack, could you describe it again? Like, the events only?"

"You mean no interpretations? Got it." He though for a bit, then started confidently, albeit slowly: "It was dark, of that I'm sure as I barely saw these few things… There was this human figure… Uh, a staircase, a lever… I remember a golden flicker and then Rapunzel's voice called for us. I can't say if it came from that figure though."

Hiccup sighed bitterly. "It's not a whole lot of clues…"

"There must be somethin'!" Merida insisted, a hint of denied desperation in her voice. "Ye lads have such great faith in Man in Moon, he'd never leave us clueless!..."

Jack's eyebrows knitted as he huffed half-angrily, half-despairingly. There _had_ to be something! Okay, once again – the lone figure, the darkness, the staircase, the lever… He zoned off for a second, then started anew. The lone figure, the darkness, the staircase, the… He had to snap back to reality yet again. What _was_ the deal with that staircase? It just wouldn't stop nagging him, there was something in the curve of the railing or the stone steps or the wall where the lever was…

The wall.

"The wall…" Jack breathed, grabbing the attention of the other two who looked at him perplexed. "The wall!" He could almost laugh. "The whole of it is painted!" Merida and Hiccup gasped.

"Could she be…?"

The brunette was already analysing. "The figure might be her, the tower has a staircase and the odd lever if I recall correctly, only one window equals relative darkness, her golden hair and _her_ voice…"

"Rapunzel's in her tower?" Merida's eyes were shifting between Jack's wide smile and Hiccup's hesitant one. The winter spirit nodded enthusiastically.

"Rapunzel's in her tower!"

"Then whut're we waitin' fer? Let's go get her back!" the girl exclaimed. Hiccup nodded.

"It's only a couple of days' travel from here, we'll make it there by tomorrow night if we hurry."

"Then we'd better get a move on."

In order to do as Jack had said, the three teens scurried off to collect their things. Merida had the tact to take Rapunzel's luggage too, not forgetting a spool of teal thread and a couple of paintbrushes she found next to the blonde's satchel. She and Jack finished quickly and turned – to see Hiccup who was petting tenderly the hidden-uptil-now Pascal. Merida was moved by his sad expression, they all were.

"Don' ye worry, wee lad, we'll find her."

"We promise." The boys added in unison.

Then they mounted and in a matter of seconds the unfortunate lawn was quiet and deserted once again.

* * *

Rapunzel woke up to fading golden light. She'd only fallen asleep at dawn, her sole comfort being that she knew where she was. With a sigh she sat herself at the windowsill and gazed at the sky where the rising moon gleamed amidst lavender dusk. Something told her not to leave the tower, to wait for her friends. The blonde supposed it was Man in Moon, so she waited.

She did that all the time anyway.

* * *

"There's her cove!" Hiccup yelled above the wind to Jack, who passed the message onto Merida. Their frantic race had really brought them to the hidden tower in only a day. A minute later they gathered at the foot of the building. Jack offered to fly up and search for Rapunzel. When the other two nodded he was off.

As soon as he flew through the window he was tackled in a hug.


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: So, two notices. One, I've been looking over my plan for the chapters, you know, bullet points and everything, and it appears that this chapter and the next one are quite short. Not fillers, mind you, just less long than the others. I hope it's not a bother... And two, again from looking over my plan, I think I've _unintentionally_ made Hiccup kind of the main character? I didn't mean to, I swear, it's just that I love him! I do try and give them all equal parts, but things just seem to want to revolve around the two boys!  
**

 **Reviews! _  
koala789:_ (:  
 _Guest:_ Hmm, you'll have to wait and see ;)  
 _FloHaddockIII_ : I'm sorry with chocolate and berries on top, but the only pairings I will be including will be the canon ones, i.e. Hiccstrid and Eugeunzel, and these will be extremely minor; they're most likely to appear in the sequel anyway. I mean I _do_ love a fluffy story (if well-written) no matter the pairing, but I think I'll stick to the canon ones. So sorry for disappointing...**

* * *

 _But how is that possible? He can't… Can he?_

* * *

"Jack! Oh, it's so wonderful to see you! I can't believe you found me that fast, I was so scared, I was about to go look for you all but Man in Moon told me to wait… Oh, it's so amazingly wonderful to see you!"

And the blonde squeezed the life out of him again. Eh, he was already dead anyway.

Chuckling, the Winter Spirit peeled her off of himself. "Glad to see you too, Blondie!" He then jerked his head towards the window. "C'mon, let's get you down."

* * *

 _This is really, really weird! Okay, get yourself together, calm down… Breathe… There. It'll all turn out to the best. Hopefully… But this in no way lessens its weirdness!_

* * *

Merida furrowed her eyebrows. "I don' get it…"

After Jack had taken Rapunzel to the ground, she wholeheartedly embraced her other two friends, then proceeded to do so with the chameleon Hiccup was holding in his hands. That's when, however, Pascal had squinted at his friend and then had suddenly and completely unexplainably turned his back on her, scurried off up the brunette's arm and planted himself on his shoulder. And so it was his determination _not_ to reunite with Rapunzel that confused Merida.

The blonde pouted at Hiccup who was petting Pascal absentmindedly, a lost look on his face. Jack was quick to notice her distress.

"Don't worry your head over it, Blondie, I'm sure it's nothing. The little guy will come to you soon."

"I hope so…" she muttered, shooting the reptile a strange look.

"Well, we'd better get goin' – Russia's still one hell o' a travel away." Merida reminded. The others were quick to agree and in a matter of minutes they left the hidden cove with the tower. Rapunzel, however, was riding with Merida – for some unfathomable reason she was feeling uneasy around the chameleon who remained on Hiccup's shoulder. The feeling was mutual – that much was obvious.

* * *

"I still don' get it." The redhead declared aloud. Hiccup looked up at her from the little reptile in his hands.

"Pascal or the wells?"

"Both Pascal an' da wells." She grunted, her eyebrows furrowed just like most of the time from last week on.

Ever since they found Rapunzel Merida had been increasingly wary – of what, she didn't bother to enlighten her friends. But, to be perfectly honest, they all had a lot on their minds, like…

"Anything?" Hiccup called to the returning Jack and Rapunzel. The pair shook their heads.

"Not a drop."

Apparently, the well they'd gone to examine was empty, just like every single one till then. Where they'd gone in search of water they'd only found dried weeds and soil that was as hard as a stone. The group scrapped by only due to the water supply in their luggage but it was running scarce already.

"Look on da bright side, guys." Merida advised, her eyes locked on the map in her hands.

"Oh, I could really look on a bright side right about now!" Jack sighed wistfully, plopping himself next to the redhead. "What've you got, princess?"

"Well, accordin' ta mah map, we ought ta reach a river in 'bout a day. That enough o' a bright side?"

"Goodness, yes!" the guardian cried, dramatically falling on his back and making his friends chuckle.

* * *

 _This is getting ridiculous, it's been a whole week, I_ have _to do something!_

* * *

"Oh, Merida, look at that awful tear in your dress!" the blonde exclaimed, "Let me take care of it."

"Ah, no, thank ye, Rapunzel, but there's no need ta bother." The ginger replied, her mind obviously somewhere else.

* * *

 _Argh!_

* * *

"But it'll only take a minute!" Rapunzel protested. "You can't go around looking like some shipwreck survivor! Come on now, let me patch it up."

She took Merida's intent silence for a 'yes' so she sat next to her and hummed quietly as she stitched up the torn fabric – so tightly that the thin teal thread was almost invisible.

* * *

 _No, no, no, this is… this is ridiculous, the whole scene is! It's a waste, that…_ imposer _over there isn't even me! …That's it, I'm – I'm done!_

* * *

"There, all done." And the blonde cut the thread with her teeth.

"Whut was that?"

"Huh?" Rapunzel looked up at Merida whose eyes were darting around. The two boys, quietly conversing uptil now, also looked at her.

"I heard somethin' like an echo, jus' now. Didn' ye?" The other three shook their heads and she cocked her head to the side, eyebrows furrowed. "Must've been mah imagination. Doesn' really matter."

* * *

 _Yeah, it doesn't matter, does it? It's just a lost someone. *sigh* I should just get lost in both metaphorical and literal sense, shouldn't I?_

* * *

Rapunzel had to snap back to reality when Merida got on her feet.

"Where are you going?" she asked, staring at the redhead's focused expression – pale skin, sparkling eyes, furrowed eyebrows, the full set.

"Ah, jus'… jus' on a stroll, lassie. Ye know, a bit o' fresh air an' all that…"

The blonde knitted her eyebrows as she watched the princess briskly walk off.

* * *

 _I'm just… useless. I knew it all along, she told me so, but this… It's proof. They don't even need me…_

* * *

Merida was weaving her way through the small forest they were camping by, her eyes darting around and glittering against her pale skin, her ears pricked, her mind in a dilemma – does she or does she not call out? Finally, she emerged in a small lawn with a petite lake in its midst, its surface smooth as glass.

* * *

 _…_ _I mean, they didn't even notice, did they? It's been a whole week… Maybe it'd be best if I just… went back home. It's not like they'd notice, they don't even see me… Oh my gosh, they won't ever see me again!_

And she broke down in sobs. That's when, however…

"... Rapunzel? Is that ye?"

Merida was staring slack-jawed at the clear surface of the lake where she, indeed, saw Rapunzel.


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: Haha, do you wanna know why I'm updating this so late? It's a pretty funny story actually... Yesterday evening, at around 11:30pm, I thought "Should I update the chapter since it's almost tomorrow?" and that little voice in my head told me "Great idea, do it!" and did I do it? No. I was intent on updating today. But I overslept this morning and when I woke up I had twenty minutes till the moment I had to leave for school so - naturally - I didn't have time to upload. But I thought "It's okay, I'll do it at school from my phone, I have my data..." Well I didn't - I switch it on and the lovely message that I've ran out pops up. And I'm like "Okay then, I'll have to update from home." And when I did get home - at 2:30pm, no less - mom greets me with "Don't expect to have Internet." And it's only now (5:20pm) that the heavenly thing called Internet works again.  
There you go, a funny story. Now forward to the reviews!  
 _koala789_ : I surely, most deffinitely, absolutely adore you!  
 _Guest:_ That's one fine theory, congrats!  
**

* * *

Merida looked at the empty space by her side, then at the surface of the water from where the blonde's reflection was staring at her, then back at the empty space where the blonde was supposed to be. _But she wasn't!_

"I don' understand, I…" She shook her head, then turned to the lake again. "Rapunzel?"

Upon hearing her name yet again the blonde's gaze turned from surprised to hopeful. "Wait, can – can you hear me?" Merida nodded, a smile starting to form on her lips. Rapunzel gasped. "Can – can you… Can you see me?" The redhead nodded again, her smile widening, and the reflection laughed in almost disbelieving relief.

But even though she was happy, Merida still had to check. "If ye're really mah friend, ye'd know whut da wee devils would do anythin' fer." The blonde crossed her arms, her lips curving in a uncharacteristic for the soft girl grin.

"Sweets." The redhead laughed in relief.

"It is ye!"

Rapunzel's reflection threw itself to hug Merida's and the princess could swear she almost felt a pair of aerial arms embrace her. But then a question struck her.

* * *

"Who're ye?" Merida demanded as soon as she entered their camp. Her companions' heads shot up startled and they looked at the redhead for an explanation but her gaze was trained on Rapunzel.

"What do you mean 'who are you'?" the blonde laughed, "I'm me, who else can I be?" The princess just crossed her arms.

Jack stood up. "What are you playing at, Merida?"

"She," and the redhead jerked her chin towards the blonde, "isn' Rapunzel."

"She's not-... Whe-where is that certainty coming from?" Hiccup insisted. Merida looked at him briefly; two red spots on her cheeks betrayed her anger.

"Well, I've Pascal's behaviour, fer one."

Both Jack and Hiccup looked at the chameleon on the Viking's shoulder; they suddenly remembered how it had refused to have anything to do with its beloved owner. They then looked at one another and at the aforementioned owner, their confusion clear as day.

Rapunzel snorted. "Boo-hoo, if the stupid frog's going nuts - by all means, it doesn't change me, now, does it?"

The boys' jaws dropped while Pascal turned crimson at the harsh words that had escaped the kind girl's mouth. Merida's face contorted in anger.

"How dare you!"

But it wasn't the redhead that screeched in fury – it was the wind. With Rapunzel's voice.

For a mere moment a strange hostile look overtook the blonde's features, draining them of all their beauty and softness. She quickly had it back under control – but the three teens had seen it.

"Yer mask slipped, imposer!" Merida accused. Hiccup balled his hands in fists.

"Where is our Rapunzel?"

The blonde threw her head back and laughed - a harsh, cold, cruel sound that sent shivers down their spines. Her eyes shone acidly, the same shade of green as Rapunzel's and yet so different - how had they not noticed something was off? "She isn't for you to find," she sneered, "she is _lost_."

"Why don't you get lost!" Jack shot back, aiming his staff at her but before he had the chance to shoot the blonde smirked devilishly. Her figure darkened, thinning, becoming more transparent with each passing second until she just disappeared in thin air – like a shadow under the bright sun. But the last to vanish was her smirk – mocking, taunting them.

Jack's hands dropped by his side. "What are we going to do, how do we find her?" he murmured worriedly.

Hiccup looked lost, his eyes darting around. Suddenly his head snapped in Merida's direction; the red spots still hadn't vanished from her cheeks.

"Merida, how did you know she wasn't the real Punzie? You've got to have known something!" She could almost hear the plea in his voice.

"Well, while it's true that it was Pascal who awoke mah suspicions, more an' more wee things added up – out o' character behaviour an' da like… I could also sometimes hear a voice in da wind, it's whut I went ta examine jus' now. An' there's da weirdest thing… When I went inta da forest, I saw this wee pond an' Rapunzel's reflection was in it even though there was no one ta be reflected."

The boys looked at each other.

"Well, we did hear her yell at the imposer…" Hiccup muttered unsurely. Suddenly his head shot up. "P-Punzie, are you here?"

"Yes, right by Merida's side." A faint, eerie voice answered.

Both boys stood still for a second, then the brunette beckoned her with a gesture.

"Now I'm just a foot in front of you."

Rapunzel's words were accompanied by a little whiff, her breath maybe, and Hiccup felt as if he was in front of Toothless all over again, just before they bonded. He carefully took Pascal from his shoulder and held him in front of himself. The small reptile glanced around, sniffed a few times and squeaked happily. The blonde's voice laughed.

"I'm glad too, Pascal! And, as you can see – well, _can't see_ – I'm getting better at hide-and-seek!" The chameleon squeaked indignantly and stuck its tongue out, making the voice giggle.

"That's enough for me." Hiccup declared, a smile crooking itself on his face. "It's great to have you back, Punzie! Uh, almost, that is…"

"Thanks, Hiccup." And he felt someone ruffle his hair.

Then Pascal flew in the air, as if an invisible hand was carrying him.

"Wait a sec," Merida stepped in, "Blondie, yer voice got louder. An' ye can hold Pascal! Ye're appearin'!" Rapunzel's voice gasped.

"You think so? But how do I appear all the way?"

"Well, I said I believed it was you," Hiccup mused, "so for you to fully appear…"

"Jack has to say it!" both he and the redhead exclaimed. They turned to their friend.

Jack, however, was quiet. Safe for a few words of concern, he hadn't said anything since the imposer disappeared. Thoughts were swirling in his head like mad and more than half of them were of Pitch. He couldn't help it – the way the Boogeyman had disappeared when he tricked him on Easter and the way the imposer did were just a tad too similar.

"Jack?" Hiccup asked.

The Guardian questioned in a quiet voice: "How do you know she's the real Rapunzel and not just another trick?"

"How can ye say that?!" The spots on Merida's cheeks had gone brighter.

"Jack!" Rapunzel called, her voice semi-pleading. But he wouldn't budge, not yet – he remembered following another echoing voice and the consequences of that all too well.

"Jack…" Rapunzel repeated; the faint sound of footsteps told them she'd moved. And then, from in front of the Winter Spirit, she said the fateful words.

"You have to believe in me."

Jack froze – she sounded half-desperate, half-hopeful, just the way he had. He listened to her… and he heard himself.

He sighed, dropping his head and whispered: "I believe in you." He then lifted his gaze and it fell upon two green eyes that were staring happily at him – a bit lucid, perhaps, but there none the less. By the moment her body became less and less transparent until finally Rapunzel was standing before them in all of her non-invisible glory – green eyes, purple dress, Pascal on her shoulder, 70ft worth of golden locks. She laughed and tackled Jack in a hug that was soon extended to Hiccup, Merida and even Toothless and Angus.

Finally, the Big Four had reunited.

* * *

 **A/N: Dearest Guest,  
Your teory really was fine. Only - it wasn't true, was it? XD  
**


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N: Still technically Wednesday, but whatever. Reviews!  
 _koala789_ : Yes. Yes, you are. :) And don't worry, she's the real Punzie... I think. You know, let me just check...**

* * *

Embers flew to the waning moon as Hiccup dumped more wood into the fire. Then he looked at his trembling friend and frowned again.

Since they got rid of the fake Rapunzel three days prior, their travel had been smooth as glass – if you don't count Merida's flu, that is. Somehow, her immune system had gone crashing down and the princess had ended up getting worse by the hour, various symptoms making her almost unable to stand – heat waves, headaches and nausea among others. For some reason, she'd refused to let Rapunzel heal her ("Pride issues," Jack had rolled his eyes) but if the blonde's knitted eyebrows were anything to go by, it wouldn't continue for much longer.

Hiccup sighed. Three, two, one…

"Merida!"

… And cue angry maternal speech.

"I _refuse_ to sit back and watch you suffer! I don't care what excuse you throw in my face, this time I'll get it my way!" The blonde had stomped through their camp and was now staring Merida down. Jack was perched onto his staff nearby, watching the girls with no little amusement. Rapunzel inhaled and exhaled, then continued with a forcibly calm tone: "I'm asking one last time, just for the record – Merida, _let me heal you_." The redhead sighed unhappily and nodded.

Five minutes later Jack was in hysterics. Hiccup shot him a disapproving look – was the image of Merida wrapped head to toe in golden locks so funny? Yeah, okay, it _was_ funny, but still!

Rapunzel ignored Jack's laugher. "There, you're all bundled up. Now I'll just sing my song and the only thing you'll have to suffer from will be your pride." Merida grumbled unintelligible curses – too much hair to be heard properly. The blonde huffed, then closed her eyes and began to sing.

 _Flower, gleam and glow…_

Hiccup watched as the roots of he hair lit up. Sure, he'd seen it once already, but the glowing-slash-healing hair was still new to him and kiiinda driving him up the wall. While it was true that he was the same age as the others, he was much less experienced with magic (unless he counted dragons – which he didn't) and all that was a brand new world for him. The Viking mentally rolled his eyes – Odin's beard, this was going to take some getting used to.

 _…_ _what once was mine…_

The blonde finished her lullaby and opened her eyes. "Are you better yet?"

"Ah, ta tell ye da truth," Merida muttered hoarsely, "I only felt better while ye were singin', right now I feel as awful as before." And a fit of cough shook her.

"I… I didn't heal you?" Rapunzel asked perplexed. "But… I always… Ho-how is that possible?" She turned to the boys helplessly; their faces had adopted solemn expressions.

"Blondie," Jack started carefully, "is it possible for your hair to, say, loose its power?"

"No," she stated determinately, "I would've known." She subconsciously fingered the little brown lock they were all familiar with.

"So if it isn't the healer…" Hiccup hesitated, "… it must be the healed. I'm not accusing you of anything, Merida," he hurried to add, "it's just that there's something weird about your illness which I can't figure out…"

"What, is it attached to you or something?" Jack joked half-heartedly; a hint of seriousness in his eyes betrayed his worry.

Suddenly, Rapunzel's face lit up. "That's it!" she gasped. Merida coughed.

"Whut's it?"

"Well," the blonde elaborated, fiddling with her hair, "what if the illness is caused by something _on_ you? That way it would have immediate effect over you, it would explain why you only felt better _while_ I was singing…"

"You might be onto something, Punzie!" They could literally hear the gears in the Viking's head working as he continued: "Merida, have you put anything new on yourself in the last couple of days?" She shook her head.

"An' even if I did, I wouldn' remember. Ugh, mah brain's meltin'…" She held her head with a groan.

"Let's look at this logically, Hiccup's a rational thinker and he's solved most of our problems uptil now. So, the question we should be asking ought to be…" Jack thought for a bit, then exclaimed: "Merida, _when_ did you start feeling bad?"

"'M not really sure, I think da first symptom was a horrible headache, I got it right after… _her_!" The venomously spat word startled the others.

"Her? You mean the fake Rapunzel?" Hiccup questioned. Merida nodded, hostility peaking through her eyes.

Jack clenched his fists, his face contorting in anger. "She must've done it, the witch! Don't worry, Mer, we'll fix this, we just have to figure out when she did it – should be easy, you grew suspicious towards her quickly so you two only had so much interactions."

Hiccup turned to the blonde. "Rapunzel, you've watched everything, can you think of when she might've done it?"

She knitted her eyebrows. "Well, she cooked, but if she'd done anything to the food, it would've affected all of you… Hmm, you two rode together but I reckon it hard to do anything while riding… She tried to do multiple things with you, Merida, like brushing your hair or braiding it, but you've refused on every occasion – except for when she sewed your dress, that is. Oh, the thread was such a beautiful teal colour, you have to tell me where you got it from! I'll ask mother to get me some teal paint, it'll make for such good paintings – well, not that I haven't asked her already…"

"Rapunzel…" the redhead interrupted; the blonde flushed embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't mumble, mother always reprimands me about tha-"

"No, ye didn' understand meh, I interrupted ta correct ye – I don' have teal thread – or any thread fer that matter; it was a spool o' yers."

The blonde shook her head. "I don't have teal thread."

"O' course ye do, I should know – I put it back in yer stuff when we went after ye, after that wolf attack…"

The brief silence that followed was interrupted by Jack. "Mer, _where_ did you find that spool?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"On da ground, next ta Blondie's stuff."

"What if it was laying there for you to pick it up?" Hiccup mused, connecting the dots. "Baba Yaga must've thrown it there when she kidnapped Punzie!"

"Quick, Mer," Jack ushered, "rip it off your dress!"

Startled into action, the redhead fumbled with the stitched fabric of her gown. "She'd be blasted," she coughed angrily, "she's good at sewin'!"

Finally, she managed to pry the thread off her dress' skirt and threw it into the fire where it burned with hisses, cracks and snaps. Hiccup looked at Jack.

"Is it just me or did this thread not burn like a normal one?"

Jack nodded solemnly and the boys turned to look at Rapunzel, who was gathering up her hair after newly healing the redhead, and the redhead in question, who was staring at the spirit.

"Did ye jus' call meh Mer? _Trice_?"

* * *

They had travelled peacefully and uneventfully for the majority of the next day and night was swiftly approaching. Suddenly, they were reminded that it was an unknown land they were venturing into, the reminder taking the form of a flock of birds startled into flying off the trees some few miles behind them.

"I don't like that, guys," Hiccup muttered, "I'll go check it out with Toothless. Are you okay with meeting up, uh…" He looked around, then pointed to a small hill at the foot of the mountains approximately half a mile ahead. "How about there? You could set the camp up at the top."

"Sounds good," Jack shrugged in approval as the girls nodded. Then the spirit continued, waving his finger at the brunette: "And you, take care! We wouldn't want you to loose another leg, would we?"

"Definitely no," Hiccup grimaced, helping Rapunzel off the dragon. "Let's go, bud." And the duo soon turned to a black speck against the already lavender sky.

"Well, we'd better get goin' ourselves, da camp won' set itself up on its own." Merida reminded; not a minute later they were on their way.

* * *

Rapunzel glanced behind herself, then back towards the fire and her two friends. "It's a bit ominous, isn't it? The mountain peak, I mean."

The other two lifted their heads towards the steep slopes that stretched to the darkening sky; the highest, steepest peek was overhanging right above their camp, making a sense of foreboding wash all over them.

Jack brought his gaze back at the blonde and nodded. "I know, the way it's hanging right over us creeps me out a bit." Rapunzel sighed.

"Me too. Shouldn't Hiccup have been back by now?"

"He should've…"

An uneasy silence fell over the small camp, the only sounds were the cracking of the fire and Angus chewing grass. Both teens looked over to Merida, who was strangely quiet, but she paid them no mind, she wasn't even looking at them, as a matter of fact – she was squinting in the direction of the highest peek, obviously trying to make something out in the deepening dusk. The two looked that way as well.

"What are you-"

Jack was cut as she lifted her hand to point – but that hand froze in mid-air.

For they had heard it – the howling and shouting and laughing and screeching that came from a flock of black dots flying towards them, the very same dots Merida had been about to point at.

"What are these?" Jack asked, immediately tensing and gripping his staff tighter. Rapunzel had gone deathly pale.

"These are trouble!"

"Whut?" It was only now that Merida seemed to snap back to the present.

The blonde repeated louder and more fearfully: "These are trouble! They are harpies **[1]** , I've read about them – they are as deadly as they are beautiful and believe me, they could rival a veela's beauty! So, in short, _we have to get out of here_!"

She cried the last part – for now the flock of harpies was close enough for the teens to pick up words among their screeching and those words weren't a tad bit reassuring.

"Ho-ho, little humans with funny hair alone in the woods!" the harpies howled with bone-chilling laughter. "Blood will be spilt, ho-ho!"

"Quickly!" Jack helped Rapunzel on Angus' saddle behind Merida, his side vision picking up Pascal who was tying a lock of hair around his waist.

"Whut 'bout Hiccup?" Merida questioned worriedly, her face even paler than usual. Jack struggled for a decision but the blonde cut him.

"I hate to say it, but he'll have to find us – and he'll have a bigger chance with Toothless anyway!"

Jack turned around with a sigh, but the tree tops were already bending from the wind the harpies' wing were creating, so he yelled for the girls to go and shot forward himself. A hiss from behind told him that the gale from the harpies' wings had extinguished their fire.

What followed was a frantic race. Upon finding the camp empty, one part of the harpies followed the teens between the trees while the rest flew over the forest. Cries of "Human flesh, human flesh!" and "Blood will be spilt, ho-ho!" surrounded the scared trio as they fled past logs and over creeks at the top of their speed in hopes of loosing their pursuers – but still the blasted creatures followed. Eventually, the teens ran into a cove that met them with flat stone walls all around – except for the clearing through which they'd entered and which was now bustling with harpies, filing in the accidental trap.

"Guess we'll have to fight." Jack stated grimly as he gripped his staff. The girls jumped off of Angus; Rapunzel extracted a lock to use as a whip, Merida readied an arrow; both wore solemn, determined looks. Jack smiled at them.

The harpies wasted no time in preparation – their attack was sudden, fierce and deafening and no amount of defeated comrades could halt it. The three fought at their best, but they were far outnumbered – they barely stood a chance. The battle went on; Merida's arrows were growing short, Jack's frustration was growing strong, Rapunzel's aim was going bad and they all thought they were going down when all of a sudden one screech rose above the others, momentarily drowning them. All the blood drained from the girls' faces as they all but froze in their spots. Jack, however, felt the screech familiar but before he could put his finger on it…

 _BAM!_

A neon blue blast lit the cove, hitting among the attacking creatures and scattering them. They shrieked and howled and turned to the sky to look for the assailant as the trio once again heard the infamous screech of the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself starting to build up.

"That's Hiccup and Toothless!" Jack yelled just as another blast hit the distressed harpies, illuminating the dragon's silhouette for a split second. None of the three had seen the duo fighting together before – it was truly astonishing.

But even more so was the effect that they had on the creatures. With frantic screeches of "The son of the storm, the son of the storm!" they took off and fled towards the highest peek, their racket being muffled a few times by a couple of more blasts (just for good measure). Half a minute later Toothless landed in the cove, Hiccup – quick to jump off.

"Are you guys okay?" he asked concerned.

The trio assessed the damage done (about a dozen bruises and scratches in total, give or take) and nodded. Hiccup sighed in relief.

"Oh, thank Thor! Does anyone have any idea what were these things?"

"Well," Merida started, "Blondie here says they were harpies – ye know, jus' another type o' beautiful deadly female creatures – but I've no idea whutsoever as ta how ye made them go away. As soon as ye an' Toothless appeared, they shrieked 'Da son o' da storm, da son o' da storm!' an' fled."

Suddenly, Jack burst out laughing.

"Whut's wrong with ye?!" Merida demanded.

Jack (quite overdramatically) wiped a tear of mirth out of the corner of his eye and said, still chuckling a bit: "Turns out, mythological creatures too have myths – that, or your dragon's truly the ultimate prize, Hiccup! 'The son of the storm' – leave it to the harpies to grant the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself yet _another_ nickname…"As soon as he finished, he burst out laughing again – this time accompanied by the other three's laughter, even Toothless' – which, of course, made them laugh even more.

When their mirth had died down, Rapunzel asked: "What did you go to examine anyway?"

"You won't believe," Hiccup chuckled, " _who_ I found." And from inside his vest he took out…

"Da witch's crow?!" Merida exclaimed incredulously. Hiccup nodded as the crow proudly perched itself on his shoulder.

"Gotta show ye ta Baba Yaga's place," it croaked.

Jack grinned at Rapunzel. "Well, she _did_ say she'd lend a hand if we needed help…"

"What are we waiting for then?" the blonde laughed.

They spent the night sleepless, weaving through the woods until finally, just as the sun peaked over the mountain's ridge, they stumbled upon a clearing. And they were met with something none of them would've expected.

* * *

 **[1]: Just to be clear, the harpies are supposed to be these from 'Ronya, the Robber's Daughter' by Astrid Lindgren. Honestly, their name's so much better in Bulgarian - just compare 'vitra' and 'harpy'!  
**


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: Surprise! Merry Christmas everyone, even if you don't celebrate it, I wish you all the best imaginable! This chapter is my small present, I hope you like it!**

 **Reviews!  
 _FloHaddockIII_ : Really? Thanks a lot, I'm glad you liked it! I was quite proud of myself when I came up with that...  
 _koala789_ : Yeah, you reallly should, cause they won't lessen. XD  
 _Clueless5point0_ : Thanks a lot for the kind works, I hope what's next meets any expectations you might have.  
**

* * *

"You've gotta be kidding me…" Jack drawled.

Merida was incredulous. "She could've at least warned us!..." The other two were just speechless.

Understandable reactions – when you're faced with a house on hen's legs.

Before they had the chance to think their next move over (or to recover from the shock), the house turned around itself until the door was facing them, then kneeled so that it looked like a normal, total-lack-of-feet house. Then the door opened and out of it stepped a short, wrinkled, hunchbacked, long-nosed old woman – Baba Yaga herself, no doubt. She grinned, showing her toothless gums, and spoke before the four had the chance to properly grab hold of their weapons.

"Come inside, come inside."

The teens looked at one another, then back at her and held their weapons tightly. The old hag scoffed.

"Don't you worry, pretty children, it's not like I'll eat you – that in particular is a habit of the past. All I do now is help stray princes or princesses, or adventurous youths, or even powerful spirits sometimes." She smirked at them. "But I believe you four fall in all these categories, correct?"

She turned around and entered the house, waving them over. The crow flew off of Hiccup's shoulder and after her; Hiccup himself – who, the others had learned, highly valued animals' opinions – shrugged and followed the bird inside. Eventually, the other three did too – no point in breaking the team, right? Only Toothless and Angus stayed outside.

The interior of the house was… bizarre, to put it mildly. There were all those weird things one would associate with witches – pots of strange plants, glass jars filled with dried fingers and a big cauldron, among others, not to mention the human-sized oven in one corner. The four looked around warily, expecting an attack any moment now. But… nothing came.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Jack eventually called to the old woman, "are you _not_ Baba Yaga?"

"That I am." She trailed off with a grin. "You must be wondering why I'm not attacking you."

Merida gaped. "How'd ye…"

The witch cut her with a scoff. "I'm Baba Yaga, I know everything! And, to answer your question, I'm not attacking you for it isn't me you're after."

"But… how is that possible?" Rapunzel wondered aloud, "The Scottish witch told us… Then again, she said it might as well not be you…"

Hiccup ran his fingers through his hair. "Oh, this-this is all so messed up!"

"Well, lucky you then," Baba Yaga grinned, "I happen to be exceptionally good at tidying messed-up things! But I won't give you all the answers, you'll have to use those pretty brains of yours…" She added, her grin curving into a smirk. "Now, then, what do you know about witches? Care to list it, my boy?" She asked, suddenly turning to Hiccup.

"Um, I guess…" He took out his sketchbook and read from his notes. " _A witch is an evil spirit, incarnated in a vile woman but still a spirit of some sort due to said spirit's power._ _A witch can fly and morph into a goose, dog, wolf, etc., lives in secluded places as to do charms to send misfortune to people. A woman becomes a witch with the power of a bad spirit or the devil himself. Such witch can now, with the power of the devil, become superhuman: she can foresee everything that is to happen; she can say what one has done, what is to happen with them, their thoughts even. She can cure every illness; she can attract illnesses, misfortunes, death even to someone, as well as the exact opposite: she can shoo these and cure even a deathly-ill person. With the power of charms and sorcery she can: take down the moon, summon rain, flood even, or draught,_ _in a word – can do as she pleases. Such witches are, according to folk lore, identified because their lips and bodies are covered with purple-black spots._ " As he read on, his voice gradually faded until at the end he lifted his head. "Guys, we've already encountered her…"

And then it dawned on them.

"Jack's mixed-up vision – ye don' know 'bout it, Blondie, ye were kidnapped…"

"And your illness, Merida!"

"The flood in the gorge…"

"And the wells… Hold on!"

Everyone turned to Jack at his exclamation; the teens were confused, but the witch was smirking.

"Ah, you remembered! It's always little things like this that make the big difference." She then addressed the others as well. "However incriminating it may be, I'll enlighten you – don't you find it weird that you found dried weeds in _every single well_ you went to? The exact same plant I have here in my pots – a Draught Weed, to be precise, commonly-used by Eastern-European witches to... well, dry out any moisture nearby. Now, now," she raised her voice as the teens had gripped their weapons, "I did say it was incriminating, didn't I? There are, however, other things that do not point at me. Think about it – when else has she assaulted you?"

"The imposer." Hiccup murmured. Baba Yaga nodded.

"We'll get to that too. Think more about the shapeshifting."

"Da wolves!" Merida gasped in realization. "There was this lone one with bright violet eyes…"

"Yes, that has been her. You should know, as the eyes are that part of the body which tells the most about someone, they cannot be changed – except when the soul itself changes. I believe you three," the witch looked at the Viking, the Guardian and the Scot, "have had such experience?"

"Mah mom…" Merida mused. "Her pupils dilated when she turned to a real bear…"

"And dragons' pupils become slits if they're acting instinctively…"

"And I used to have brown eyes before I…" Jack shook his head. "Nevermind. I don't get it, though, if eyes don't change with shapeshifting, why did the fake Rapunzel have green ones?"

Baba Yaga was ready with the answer. "Ah, here we get to the tricky part – the imposer wasn't the shapeshifted witch at all."

The four shot each other perplexed looks, then turned back to the old hag.

"See, she isn't even a real witch, for no witch can tear herself and her shadow apart; and this particular witch has an affinity for shadows, I believe. Your imposer was her shadow – no more, no less – bewitched to resemble your friend until found out and then to melt in thin air – much like a shadow would when faced with light so bright such as that of the truth… Now, about the flooded gorge you mentioned earlier and about the broken dam in particular. On your whole journey you encountered no animals, that I know for sure, and yet…"

"… And yet there were hoofprints in the mud where Pascal fell…" Rapunzel finished uncertainly. "Deer hoofprints…" She made to grab Hiccup's notes, but remembered she couldn't read Nordic runes.

"Blondie, you don't think…"

She cut Jack. "I do, but it's impossible…" She looked at Baba Yaga. "… isn't it?"

The old woman shook her head. "I'm afraid it isn't. The witch you're after is powerful in a strange way – she has the powers of both witches and veelas – from the latter she's picked up the habit of riding a six-winged deer even though she can fly herself – and there's her strange shadow magic as well." She sighed. "It's going to be tough…"

"You talk as if you know her." Hiccup murmured. The witch nodded solemnly.

"I do, my boy, but I wish I didn't. She's Vihra."

Heavy, foreboding silence fell over the room. Finally, Jack ventured: "Who's she?"

"She's one of the most dangerous creatures on this Earth. You know already witches are both human and spirit – she isn't. Vihra is so evil, so twisted that there's no trace of humanity left in her, her very core is dark and cruel. It is unknown when she came to exist, but from the beginning she's been like this."

"That's horrible," Rapunzel whispered, "how could something like this happen? To anybody?" A little voice in her head spoke: _The world is dark, selfish and cruel…_

Interrupting the memory of Gothel's words, Baba Yaga answered: "No one knows, child, and no one dares investigate – her past is sealed to the world and intruders are deathly punished."

"But… we can't beat her unless we know who she is, and how do we know who she is if we don't know who she was?" Jack asked again.

"You will." Baba Yaga assured, then corrected herself: "Beat her, I mean, I doubt you'll ever learn anything about her – it's impossible. However, young spirit, you don't have to know your enemies to achieve victory against them – it's easier, yes, but still. And I have faith you'll win against Vihra – there's something special about you four…"

"How d'ye know?" Merida asked. The witch grinned.

"The moon told me so." She then looked pointedly at Jack. "And when the moon tells you something…"

He smiled back. "Believe it."

* * *

"Here," Baba Yaga spoke, "this arrow will guide you to where Vihra's home is. You will undoubtedly meet her sooner than that, but in her house is the potion that holds Man in Moon's power; you have to destroy it - spill it, throw it off a cliff, anything. Take care not to shoot the arrow, though, Princess – it'll lose its power. Just put it on your palm and it will point you in the right direction. Eh, I don't normally use arrows, to be fair, it's usually a clew of yarn, but I've ran out… Now," she continued as soon as Merida had put the arrow in her quiver, "you'll have to hurry and get there – to her home, that is – in the next two weeks, because then she will take the moon down again and she'll have all of Man in Moon's power, or at least a huge portion of it. Speaking of which, tonight's the new moon which means Manny won't be around to guard you four like he usually does and I'm almost certain Vihra will try and attack you again – with all her strength this time – so just be careful."

And with these parting words the four left the house on hen's legs.

* * *

She could see the silhouettes moving against the flickering flames of their campfire. She smirked – how very foolish of them to light it, one would think they weren't experienced in following evil witches around in an unknown terrain… Oh, _wait_.

She laughed with her head thrown back, as if for a howl, then smirked a devilish smirk. This was going to be _fun_ , she thought to herself, her violently bright violet orbs flashing dangerously.

Then she snapped her fingers.


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N: Okay, now we have two notices and the second is quite important.  
So, one, a little backstory for Baba Yaga (as we won't encounter her anymore). So I don't know if that's the case with you, but in Bulgarian every evil witch from the fairytales of Brothers Grimm, Charles Perraut and basically every Western-European author was dubbed Baba Yaga and so we Bulgarian kids know that she's evil. That is not the case, however, with the Russian folk tales as there she's like... I don't know, a quirky fairy godmother most of the time. You know, the one you go to when the love of your life is kidnapped by a powerful spirit and stuff. And as this is the Russian Baba Yaga we're talking about, she's good. Even if she used to eat people (call it parallels with 'Hansel and Gretel'). ****The second thing. I'm sorry to say it, but I'm putting this story on the tiniest hiatus - tiny as in I'll be updating again in three weeks' time. I know that I'm leaving this on a cliffhanger (what else is new?) but I have to - even though there's still 13 chapters from now, I want to figure out how I want things to roll in the ending. So I hope you're not mad and I'll see you again with another chapter on January 26th, okay?  
Now reviews!  
 _Clueless5point0:_ Haha, yeah, Baba Yaga's like that... XD  
 _koala789:_ Wow, seems you had an exciting Christmas there! And... actually, I'm quite flattered I was responsible for that outburst! (And yeah, who do we turn to for those letters?) Also, no, I don't like torturing people. Fine, I do, but just a liiiitle bit. :D  
 _FloHaddockIII:_ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too! Hm, no, she isn't all that bad. :) And that was kind of the point :D**

* * *

The quiet evening the four were enjoying was interrupted when a fierce blast of wind almost extinguished the campfire. The teens shot up immediately. Their eyes flickered around, frantic to locate the danger, even if the light provided by the fragile flames was too scarce. But after that initial blast nothing came – heavy lull inhabited the darkness around the camp; yet the four stayed alert, never letting their guard down, for Baba Yaga's words were still burning bright in their minds.

A minute passed. Another. Five. The silence layered to the point it was almost deafening. Ten minutes. Nothing moved – neither the alert teens, nor the mysterious assailant, even the dancing flames seemed tame. Thick dark clouds covered the stars.

The fifteenth minute had just rolled around when the noise started. Merida heard it eight seconds after that. "Shush!" she hissed and gripped Rapunzel's elbow. The four listened; the noise was accelerating with each moment that passed – the source was nearing them.

"What do you think it is?" Rapunzel murmured softly; in her green gaze, however, was lurking strength as hard as the diamonds on the lost princess' tiara.

"Da harpies," Merida decided, "they sounded da same." She let go of the blonde's hand in favour of notching an arrow, a scowl on her face.

The nose had accelerated considerably by now – whoever (or whatever) its producer was, it'd soon be upon them. Yet the surrounding darkness was still unmoving and, albeit ominous, it didn't appear to hold any immediate danger. The sky too seemed peaceful…

"There!" Hiccup pointed upwards.

… okay, _had_ seemed peaceful. But one couldn't very well spot a wave of… darkness against the black clouded sky on the night of the new moon, could they? Speaking of which…

Jack's eyes glinted dangerously. "Pitch!" he roared and thrust his staff upwards, directing a blue-white blast towards the wave. The two forces collided with a thunder-like sound and a series of cracks followed. Then with a loud _snap!_ the darkness exploded, pelting the ground with miniscule icy shards.

Jack was looking around with a downright scary expression, ready to shout at the Boogeyman. But Hiccup gripped his shoulder. "Jack, it's not him – it's her." The spirit whirled around, looking at the Viking questioningly, but the latter stepped forward and called into the darkness. "Vihra, show yourself, we know you're here!"

At first there was silence, but then a cruel, cold, bone-chilling, howl-like laughter all but shook the ground. The same voice then purred patronisingly: "Clever boy!"

The fire burst back to life with a loud hiss and towered to almost twice their size; just in time to illuminate a black whirlwind that had formed not a second ago. The vortex soon dissipated to reveal the slender figure of a woman dressed all in black and dark purple. Her grey skin was dotted with freckle-like spots of the same two colours; long shadowy black hair was flapping around her in the dissipating wind. Cold, violently bright violet eyes were staring back at the quartet in obvious mockery.

"Well, well, we finally meet." Vihra spoke in a pleasant, if condescending, voice. She _was_ beautiful, there was no denying it, but the teens found her grin sickening. They held their weapons, dropping into a battle stance, and sent her a glare of steel.

"Why so silent?" she pouted. "And to think I _so desired_ to speak with you! You, Jack, for one. Be a dear, relieve my curiosity – I would _love_ to know who this Pitch is that you always mistake me for…" Her eyes flashed strangely.

Merida shook her head – yep, she definitely hated this one. "Whut'd'ye want with Man in Moon?" she demanded. Vihra merely laughed at her.

"Oh, this business of his and mine is perfectly plausible, I'm just going to claim ownership of his power, that's all. Hey, I'm a witch after all, aren't I?" She laughed again at their scowls. "However, the real question is what do _you_ want with him, hm? None of you seem to have anything to do with witchcraft – well, except for the little blonde – so what's in it for you?" Her eyes bore in each of the four in turn.

Merida's hands tightened around her bow and the notched arrow – oh, she was itching to pin that blasted witch to a tree! "Why would ye even want ta know?" she snapped. The witch shrugged.

"Call it mere curiosity."

"Curiosity killed the cat." Rapunzel spoke up.

"Won't manage with this one, dearie." Violet orbs winked at the blonde.

Merida looked ready to retort but Jack cut her. "This is ridiculous! What are we doing right now, chatting like _old friends_ , trying to… _figure out_ the witch's plans? No, no… this is _not_ for me!"

"Why did you come now? You could've attacked us without revealing yourself, you've already done it – what? Five times? So what's in it for you?" Hiccup dryly looked her in the eye, watching her react to him mocking her words.

The faked pleasant smile disappeared from her lips as her eyebrows knitted and her eyes narrowed; the violet briefly flashed in gold. " **Insolent boys!** " she spat, a new note in her voice – steely and feral.

"Don't talk to them like that!" Rapunzel defended fiercely; a cry of agreement from Merida and a growl from Toothless backed her words.

"Aww, the little group of friends, out on an adventure!" Vihra cooed, then her voice turned steely again. " **Don't make me gag.** But," her voice was sickeningly sweet once more, "this aside – the real reason I came tonight was to warn you. **Don't mess with forces far more powerful than you.** " It was downright scary, the way her voice changed all the time. Yet the teens stood their ground.

"You attacked as a couple of times already and we're still alive, what's to say we won't manage again?" Jack spoke with a tone of confidence.

"Oh,"Vihra placed a delicate hand in front of her face in mock horror, "I so wanted not to get here! **Ha!** " She laughed and continued, her voice laced with cruelty: " **Just kidding, that's the best part – fulfilling your thread.** " It was just now that they realised how pointy her teeth were; it made them shiver. The witch's eyes swept over them as she thought aloud: "What to do, what to do…" Suddenly her eyes flashed. " **Oh!** " Her lips curled in a smirk. "The little heroes go around the world with the sole mission of righting wrongs and fixing evils, what a noble cause it is indeed! Well, it's only fitting if I returned the favour, no? After all, **there must be a reason for calling something unholy.** "

All the blood drained from Hiccup's face. "No…" Vihra burst in her howl-like laughter and raised her hands; a dark whirlwind started to form again. The other teens paled as well, figuring out what she meant, but the vortex had almost completely concealed her by now and it kept growing. Through the howling of the dark wind they heard Hiccup cry out once more: "No!" The force of the moving air currents knocked them off their feet.

The four only managed to get up after the whirlwind had dissipated. They looked around, hoping to have assumed wrongly, but that hope was shattered when Hiccup repeated with a disbelieving, almost broken voice: "No…"

Vihra was gone – but so was Toothless.


	18. Chapter 17

**A/N: Hello! Meh, a bit early, but I'm back, the plan is all, well, planned out and I'm returning to the usual update schedule - every Thursday, as you know. (Also, this is my longest chapter yet - yay!)  
Now, stuff about this chapter - I have quotted a part of the movie "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" (it's marked with a tiny star - like that one * ) and I have also refferenced "Big Hero 6" and "Harry Potter", but you'll have to find those yourself :D There are also refferences to two Russian stories I have read as a kid but I don't remeber their names.  
As for reviews, I must have answered them in PMs, but to answer the Guest's review: No, Toothless isn't evil, of course he isn't! I'm (metaphorically) offended you'd think I would think so!  
**

 **AN IMPORTANT THING! I wanted the chapter to sound authentic and I wanted to make the people speak Russian. I don't know it, however, so as of now these lines are in Bulgarian, but if someone could translate them I'd be very grateful! (I REFUSE to use Google Translate though.)  
ALSO! The lines in Russian (right now Bulgarian) aren't immediately translated. Jack translates them a paragraph or two after that, but tell me if you prefer the translation to be right after the foreign words and I'll edit it. **

* * *

**Quick reminder: The last chapter was Vihra's encounter with the Four, at the end of which she kidnapped Toothless.**

"Hiccup!" Rapunzel exclaimed as she rushed towards him. The Viking had collapsed on his knees a second ago and was now staring wordlessly at the ground, pale and shaking. The blonde quickly enveloped him in a hug, placing her chin on top of his head, and murmured: "It will be alright… There, there…"

Jack ran a hand through his hair in despair and quickly went by his two friends' side. Merida soon joined them, right after bringing Angus nearer. The four were quiet for a bit, then Jack ventured: "How are you feeling, Hiccup?"

"Saintlike." His muffled reply was followed by a pathetic little laugh. Merida raised her eyebrows but worry was hiding in her turquoise eyes. "I'm feeling holy, just…" the brunette tried again, only to fail. He continued in a small voice: "… just a half. With holes. Holey." He sighed heavily and hung his head low.

"Hey, hey…" Jack quickly dropped to his knees in front of the distraught boy and put a hand on his shoulder. "It'll be alright… We-we'll fix this…"

"How? Maybe _you_ can, but _I_ am just… _useless_ without Toothless, just like I was before I met him!"

"Hiccup!" Merida reprimanded, "Don' talk 'bout yerself like that! Ye're not useless an' I'll personally make sure ye can defend yerself jus' so ye can stop sayin' it!"

"Thanks, Merida," Hiccup muttered, "but—"

"I know it doesn't sound like it'll help, but it will." Rapunzel promised softly. "And I know you probably feel lost without Toothless and that you think that he's lost too, but everything that is lost can be found, right?"

"And until then?" Hiccup asked in a small voice. Jack squeezed his shoulder lightly and smiled.

"Until then you have us. I know we're not… the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, but…" Hiccup chuckled, interrupting him. Jack's smile grew bigger. "But we're friends and stick together – no matter what."

Hiccup looked at the three of them with a small loopsided smile. "Thanks, guys."

* * *

Rapunzel cleared her throat. Jack looked down at her from his place atop his staff to find her staring at him in amusement. "Weren't we supposed to try and figure out where Vihra's home is?" she asked pointedly.

The Guardian shrugged with a grin. "Eh, this is more fun." He then turned his gaze back to the duelling Hiccup and Merida.

"Two, one, five! Good, very good! ***** Move yer feet, Hiccup!"

"This is…" he blocked her blade, "… _so_ not…" another block, "… my forte! _Gah!_ " He barely managed to evade the last blow.

"Oh, shut it!" She struck again, forcing him to deflect her attack. "Ye're getting decent at this, lad!" the redhead encouraged, throwing herself forward.

" _Gah!_ The sword, however, is…" he huffed as he countered another blow, "… too big for my liking! Vikings use swords for one hand, you know." The brunette stated panting.

"Less talkin', more fightin'!" Merida declared as she sped forward again.

Hiccup huffed and deflected a few more blows. "I still wonder—" he had to evade a surprise strike, "That was close! I still wonder where you got the swords from."

The princess grinned. "Ah, that'd be tellin'. Oi, ye two, quit watching an' do yer job!"

"Sure, Your Highness!" Jack mock-saluted her and jumped off of his staff. He then followed the blonde to where their stuff was laying, overhearing a few more words from the duelling.

"Ye've ta attack as well, lad!"

"I'm not the offensive fighting type, thank you very much. _Gah!_ "

"Oh, we'll see about that!"

Jack chuckled, shaking his head – honestly, those two… He plopped down next to Rapunzel. "Okay, Blondie, what've we got?"

"Well, Baba Yaga said to look for her in some high mountain but not a mountain chain." She replied distractedly, her eyes sweeping over Merida's map.

"What? When'd she say it?"

"Don't you remember? She shouted for us to wait when we were almost in the forest and we had to return and hear her out."

Jack furrowed his eyebrows. "Yeah, but she said so many things… Was it before or after the story about the frog prince?"

"Uh… After her rant about the moon, I think."

"Hm. I completely zoned off after the story about that girl who turned to a pigeon… So, a high mountain you say?"

"Mhm, and I thought that we could check where the arrow's pointing, you know, to pinpoint her home in case we loose the arrow." She looked up at Jack. "Any idea where Merida's left it?"

"The arrow? It's in her quiver, just a sec." The Guardian jogged to the pile of luggage and quickly retrieved the magical projectile. "The map's north is facing the actual north, right?"

Rapunzel looked up at him. "I got what you mean and the answer's yes, but you said it in such a stupid way that I'm not even going to comment."

"When did you start turning to Hiccup?"

She wacked him upside the head. "Just see which direction it's pointing to already!"

It turned out the arrow was pointing south, slightly straying to the south-west. "Must be somewhere in this empire then… But how do we know for sure, the place is packed with mountains!" Jack fathomed.

"We're only looking for mountains and not mountain chains, remember? So it should be one of these." The blonde pointed to an area of the map. "I say we try Rila, it's the first one anyway."

"It's decided then. Let's go put an end to their duel and get going – it's only two weeks till the full moon."

When they got to the other two they were just in time to witness Hiccup forcing Merida's sword out of her grip. The redhead cried triumphantly: "Told ye ye could fight on da offensive!" The Viking rolled his eyes.

* * *

It was late afternoon when the four reached a small town. Merida was riding on Angus' saddle, conversing with the flying Jack; next to the horse was Hiccup who'd once again fallen in silence; from her spot on his side Rapunzel was sparing him a concerned look every once in a while.

That's why none of them noticed neither the stares nor the whispers – not until they found themselves in a small square bustling with people, each and every one of who was snarling in their direction: " _Ved'ma! Ryzhevolosaya ved'ma!_ "

Merida's eyebrows arched. "Whut're they goin' on 'bout?" The two green-eyed teens shrugged but Jack's face fell. "D'ye understand them?" the princess inquired.

The Guardian nodded uneasily. "The words they're saying… They mean 'red-haired witch'."

"Whut?!" Merida exclaimed incredulously, "Whut'd they be sayin' it fer?"

Hiccup and Rapunzel had paled a bit upon hearing Jack's translation; the blonde gripped the brunette's arm, their eyes darting nervously around. The crowd started talking louder, tightening the circle bit by bit.

"What's going on?" Rapunzel whispered; three pairs of eyes turned to the spirit.

"The people seem to think that Merida's a witch – and what's more, they believe Hiccup and Punzie are her slaves or something and are determined to… free them?"

The three's jaws fell opened. Travelling days and days in the wild without meeting the local people had made their demeanour seem normal to them; what the people of the small town saw, however, was not four friends – it was a red-haired lady riding a steed and talking to – seemingly – nobody, as well as two skinny teens with melancholic faces and wide green eyes that walked next to the steed and looked genuinely frightened of the lady – what with their pale faces and the way the girl was holding onto the boy and all. The two were undoubtedly prisoners of the witch, bound by her magic and unable to break free; the kind people of the town felt obliged to help the two poor children – so they tightened the circle around the four, eventually separating Hiccup and Rapunzel from Jack and Merida and even getting the latter off of her horse and starting to drag her somewhere.

"Merida!" Jack called, ready to come help her, but the redhead stopped him.

"Don'! Take care o' Angus, Hiccup an' Rapunzel first, don't worry 'bout meh, I'll manage!" She was then dragged off to who knows where as the people kept snarling at her in Russian.

Jack had half a mind to get her out of the crowd's hands despite her orders but obliged with a groan. Instead he whispered in Angus' ear which resulted in the horse kicking and tossing and turning and thus driving the people around him back. The Guardian ushered Angus to leave, telling him to wait out of the town, which the Clydesdale did in a blink. The spirit then set off to look for the two 'prisoners'.

He found them being ushered in a house and sat on a table. Hiccup and Rapunzel quickly noticed him and mouthed "Help!"

"Tell me what's going on!" Jack asked them, quickly adding: "But pretend to talk to each other, lest they'd think you're witches too."

Hiccup nodded and, mimicking talking to the blonde, spoke: "We have no idea what's going on, I think they don't understand us though, they would've spoken to us in English if they did."

"And they keep talking, Jack! We're being asked questions and they keep saying things in Russian and we don't understand a thing! Can you make something out of their words?" Rapunzel pleaded. It was so weird to talk to the Guardian while having her eyes locked with the brunette's.

The Guardian in question nodded and focused on the other people in the room – two men and half a dozen elderly women. Two pairs of green eyes were locked on his face, searching for a reaction. It came fairly quickly – only a couple of sentences into the conversation Jack's eyes widened. "Guys, you gotta get out of here _now_! They're-they're so sorry for you they're contemplating _adopting you_!"

"What?!" the two hissed shocked.

"It's true! Apparently, you're 'adorable' and 'your misfortune' is 'simply heartbreaking'." Jack added air quotes with his fingers. "Anyway, you gotta get out of here – or you won't be able to at all!"

"But _how_?" Rapunzel exclaimed. One of the women turned to look at them, alerted by her relatively loud voice. Thinking quickly, the blonde mimicked bursting in tears; Hiccup held her close in a comforting manner, playing along. The woman cooed and turned back to the conversation.

"Bad idea, _bad idea_!" Jack hissed even though the other people couldn't hear him, "Now you appear even more adorable! Listen, one of you guys has to speak with them – tell them you were stolen from the nearest town and you have family there so they needn't adopt you."

"But neither of us knows Russian!" Hiccup pointed out quietly.

"I do, I'll prompt and you just repeat what I say."

The Viking nodded unsure. Jack said something to him and he carefully repeated it. " _Izvinete?_ " The group of people paused their conversation and turned to the two 'poor unfortunate souls'. " _Um, blagodarya vi za grizhata, no…_ " He paused, Jack urgently speaking a string of strange words. " _…no sestra mi I az sme ot blizak grad, imame semeistvo tam._ "

The women smiled tenderly but the men seemed confused. " _No zashto ne kazahte nishto dosega?_ " one of them asked.

The brunette seemed to freeze for a moment, but then quickly spoke: " _Sazhalyavam, zaradi shoka e, govorim angliiski po instinkt tai kato maika ni e anglichanka. Sestra mi oshte ne mozhe da produma._ "

The women gasped, one of them even wiped a tear. " _Dobre togava, svobodni ste da se pribebrete. Tryabva li vi eskort?_ " The other man asked.

" _Ne, no blagodarya vse pak._ " Jack urgently added another string of words, making Hiccup repeat them in a concerned voice. " _A kakvo shte stane s veshtitzata?_ "

" _Ne se trevozhete za neya, shte ya izgorim na kladata._ " The man waved his hand dismissively.

Hiccup nodded, following Jack's instructions. " _Blagodarya za tzyalata pomosht, po-dobre da tragvame. Haide, Marya._ "

"C'mon, Punzie, go with him. Leave, both of you!" Jack instructed quickly; both teens did as told."

Five minutes later found them in the outskirts of the town where they could finally speak freely to Jack.

"Whatever did you make me tell them?" Hiccup asked the other boy who shrugged, looking back and a bit restless.

"Let me think… Well, the first thing you said was what I originally told you to, to say you were from another town and had family. When they asked why you hadn't immediately spoken back I told you to say it was because of the shock, that your mother was English so you spoke it on instinct, that Rapunzel – who I called Marya, by the way – was too shocked to utter a word. Then they offered escort, you denied it…" He sighed. "I also asked of Merida's fate, what were they going to do to the witch."

"What'd they say?" both the blonde and the brunette asked.

"They said they were gonna burn her at the stake. I'm going to get her but I figured I'd take you safely out first since she asked me to."

"What are you waiting for, go get her, we're safe enough!" Rapunzel screeched terrified.

"Yeah, you already got us out, we'll be fine, we'll find Angus, just go!" Hiccup ushered as well. The Guardian nodded and was off.

* * *

Merida looked around – none of the guards cast an eye her way. She carefully wiggled her bound hands until she reached the arrow hidden up her sleeve – literally, she'd manage to grab it from her quiver and hide it there from the crowd. She pulled it out with much difficulty and tried to cut the ropes binding her wrists.

The townspeople had bound her to a pole rather quickly – only with a word from a strangely dressed man – and then began piling wood around her. Obviously, around here witches were treated with burning at a stake. Lucky her.

She'd almost managed to free herself – only one rope was binding her wrists by now – when the large square she was in started filling with people. No one even said anything, one of the guards simply threw a lit torch in the pile of wood setting it on fire. Merida tuned out a person who started speaking enthusiastically of something as she tried not to panic and free herself. However, her calm demeanour began slipping the higher the flames rose, and the darn rope just wouldn't tear! She huffed desperately as she kept trying, but her attention was diverted by the fire that was creeping towards her feet; she stomped in a futile attempt to extinguish it but only succeeded in dropping the arrow.

"No!" the redhead cried as the projectile burned to a crisp just before her eyes, with a loud _crack!_ accompanying that. She tried to tear the remaining rope with her bare hands (literally) but it was useless. She screamed in helpless fury.

"Don't, you'll attract their attention!" a voice hissed.

Merida's head snapped to the side and she found herself staring at Jack's blue orbs. He smiled briefly at her, then ordered: "Pretend I'm not here, I'll work on the rope and you'll be free in a blink." She nodded discreetly and waited, warily glancing at the flames; less than half a minute later the Guardian appeared in front of her with a… grin?

"Whut're ye smilin' 'bout?" the redhead whispered. His smile only grew.

"Let's get you out with a bang, shall we?" He then explained his plan; at the end of it the girl too was grinning like mad.

"Let's do this!"

She tensed her muscles and the frosted-over rope broke apart. At the same moment Jack stomped his staff to the ground , frosting over the entire stake; with a sharp hiss the flames were extinguished at once.

Cries of terror emitted from the crowd as it stepped back. A brave (reckless, more probably) guard moved to recapture 'the witch' but she flung her hand his way and a blast of ice forced him to stand back. Merida then stomped her foot to the ground and a path of ice immediately shot from the stake and through the crowd towards the street that exited the square. The princess, framed witch, looked around – clearly, no one dared to stop her. She threw her hand in front of herself and was dragged away along the icy path by a powerful invisible force. (Of course, the people had no way of knowing that the force was actually Jack.) She was gone before any sort of action could occur.

Finally not in immediate danger, the pair quickly found the other half of their group as well as Angus. Maybe they'd laugh about framing Merida as a witch at some later point of their journey, but now they just hugged one another tightly, happy to have made it out in one piece. The encounter, however, wasn't with no casualties – the arrow that Merida had snatched from her quiver and later dropped at the stake was the one given to them by Baba Yaga – the one that should've led them to Vihra. Yes, they knew the direction, but it was still a bitter blow.

After the encounter the four continued southwards in a much solemn mood and with much more caution. They didn't talk and laugh as loudly anymore and never lost grip of their weapons; every night they'd take turns and keep watch.

… On the first night Hiccup dreamt of Toothless.


	19. Chapter 18

**A/N: This is late and short and crap and I'm sorry. I blame it on this awesome fic on AO3 that's been swallowing my free time for the last 4 days. (What? My fault too? Nooo, no way, you're sooo wrong. *note the sarcasm*)  
Anyway, in this chapter there is a Girl Meets World refference, like an almost exact quote. You'll probably spot it. **

* * *

The next morning Rapunzel woke up with the sun. The first thing she saw was Jack, perched atop his staff – he'd managed most of the watch that night, he didn't need the sleep. He flashed a quick smile her way then his gaze turned back to the horizon.

The blonde lightly shook her friend's shoulder. "Come on, Merida, time to wake up." Her only answer was an unintelligible grunt. "Merida?" she tried again.

"I said ta leave meh alone!" the princess snapped. The spirit turned to her startled as Rapunzel recoiled. The redhead rolled on her other side muttering angrily.

Jack shot the blonde an apologetic look. "Her manners are probably lost in her bedhair, don't worry."

"I heard that, Frost!" Merida spat, rising stiffly and stomping away.

The Guardian's eyes narrowed. "I'd better go and fix that. You wake Hiccup, Blondie." As soon as she nodded he was off after the angry redhead.

Rapunzel sighed. Ever since the new moon things had been going downhill, and it was only the second morning. She quietly walked by Hiccup's side and made to shake his shoulder like she'd done with Merida.

"I'm awake," his voice stopped her, "couldn't sleep."

Her eyebrows knitted in concern. "Didn't you get _any_ rest? _At all?_ "

He shook his head. "Not much, not after the dream anyway… Two, three hours at the most."

"What'd you dream of?" the blonde asked. The brunette turned his gaze away.

"Toothless."

The girl waited a bit for him to elaborate, but when he said nothing else she prodded: "What of him?"

"Just, you know, his face… His eyes…" Hiccup shook his head. "It was just a dream, it means nothing."

She gripped his elbow. "Dreams _do_ come true, and you know it! I dreamt of friends, of adventures, of seeing the world – it came true, didn't it? And look at Jack's dreams, they always turn out to be prophecies or something."

"Yeah, well, these things don't happen to me." He shrugged her hand off.

Rapunzel was about to protest but a yell startled them both. Their heads snapped in its direction but before they could locate or even determine the source a grim-looking Jack landed before them.

"When you're ready just leave, I'll find you."

"Why, where're you going?" the blonde asked worriedly. The Guardian shook his head.

"I need a bit of silence, to clear my head." And just like that he was off.

Rapunzel threw Hiccup a questioning look. He shrugged half-heartedly. "People need space sometimes. We'd better go, we don't want to be late. Would you go get Merida or should I?"

* * *

Rapunzel looked at her companions warily. They'd been travelling for more than four hours – the sun was nearing its highest point – and the damp mood from the morning remained. Merida was walking beside Angus in grumpy silence, the horse positioned like a barrier between her and the others; Hiccup had closed in on himself and generally seemed to have switched to default mode; Jack still hadn't returned.

The blonde sighed, locking eyes with Angus and Pascal, who was seated on top of the horse's head; the two animals too looked concerned. She averted her eyes to the right where the thin silver crescent of the waxing moon was still visible above the horizon. "What am I supposed to do, Manny?" Rapunzel asked aloud; it wasn't like her friends would hear – they were both lost in their own minds. "I can't just leave them like that, none of them – not when I don't even _know_ what's the matter!" The moon suddenly seemed brighter; her eyes widened. "I don't even know what's the matter… I gotta find out! That's what you want me to do!" Her smile remained as the fading moon hid under the horizon, then her lips set in a determined line.

"Hiccup." She grabbed his shoulder, turning him around and locking her determined gaze with his lost one. "I know you're not in the mood for anything but I need you to help me with Jack and Merida."

A small light returned to his eyes; it brought them back to life even if it wasn't enough to extinguish the bitter sadness that remained in the forest-green depths. "What do you need me to do?"

She smiled at him. "You have the best bond with Jack out of all of us. Bring him back, as soon as he returns. I'll figure out what's wrong with Merida."

He nodded. It was a silent promise – and they both knew that none of them would ever, _ever_ break a promise. Not when it came to their friends.

* * *

"You can't keep pushing me away!" Rapunzel called, hurrying after Merida who'd walked away with angry stomping. Yeah, the 'figure out' part hadn't gone that well… "You're acting like a child, this is not who you are and I wanna know why and I wanna know now!"

"Argh!" the redhead yelled in frustration and turned to the blonde. "Just leave meh alone!"

"Not until I figure out what's wrong!" she retorted with surprising stubbornness.

"Ye jus' don' _listen_!" Merida screamed at her.

"Because you won't speak to me!" Rapunzel shouted back, her loud voice taking the other girl by surprise. They stayed in silence for a few seconds, their eyes locked; eventually the blonde spoke up. "I want to help you, Merida, I really do – we're friends, it's what I'm _supposed_ to be doing. I just can't unless you _tell me what's wrong_."

Merida stared at her shell-shocked, her turquoise orbs wide; then her gaze fell to the ground and with a shaky sigh she dropped to a sitting position.

Plopping down by her side, Rapunzel repeated in a much calmer voice: "What's wrong?"

"It's jus'…" The redhead sighed again, frustrated that she couldn't find the words. "… da whole thing with da witch's driven meh mad."

The blonde gasped. "Oh, Merida-" She waved her off.

"'s not da thing itself. I s'pose it's…" She was silent for a bit. "… it's da people accusin' meh o' somethin' I'm not, 'Cause, ye see, mah whole life someone's been tellin' meh what ta do, who ta be, stuff ta say… I jus' recently got out o' it an' ta have someone forcin' meh inta somethin' again, well… It jus' drove me up da wall."

She looked to the blonde slightly embarrassed – only to receive a hug.

"I'm sorry," Rapunzel softly murmured to her, "I'm sorry that you feel that way. I can't promise you no more hurt, no one can, but this I _can_ promise – to be by your side and to comfort you whenever you _do_ get hurt. And you know that when I promise something, I never _ever_ break that promise."

Merida smiled at her. "Thanks." She then laughed. "Ye can be quite ferocious, ye know that?" The blonde softly smiled back but it quickly faded. The princess immediately caught on. "Whut're ye thinkin' 'bout?"

She huffed. "I asked Hiccup to talk to Jack, you know? I wonder how that's going…"

"Jack? Yeah, da lad flew off after I snapped at him in da morning, I don' know whut I said ta hurt him though… But no matter, let's go an' check on them, hm?"

Rapunzel smiled at her as she got to her feet.

* * *

Hiccup puffed his cheeks in nervous anticipation; as soon as Jack had landed in their camp Rapunzel had stood up, asking to speak with Merida. He'd caught the look she shot his way and had no doubt what she did it for. And so forward he strode to the far end of their camp where the spirit was perched atop his staff.

"Hey," he greeted, sitting by the base of the staff. "Are you okay?" The other shrugged. "Would you like to tell me about it?"

Jack sighed. "No, not really."

"Jack."

"I don't want to, okay? It's not important anyway."

"Yeah, because if it were important you'd've flown alone for hours and sulk by yourself." Hiccup deadpanned.

Jack rolled his eyes. "I'm telling you again, it's nothing."

" _Jack…_ "

"Oh, by Manny, you're as stubborn as a mule!" the Guardian exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

"As stubborn as a Viking." The brunette corrected with a grin, making the spirit chuckle.

"Okay, I concede, what do you want from me?"

"To tell me what's wrong."

"Oh, for- Ugh! I _told you_ , it's nothing! How can you even _tell_ something's wrong?"

"I know you, you don't usually act like this."

Jack huffed. "Maybe I haven't been all snowballs and fun times, that doesn't-"

"That's the thing though, you're not having fun like usual, why is that?"

"Would you leave me alone?" he groaned. "I had a rough enough day as it is from the very morning, got yelled at by Merida for, I quote, 'taking everything so childishly'…" His voice quietened and he looked away with a sigh.

"And we got to the bottom of it." Hiccup quietly said. "Why did that hurt you so much? You two bicker and banter on a daily basis."

"I know, it just was… kind of a low blow."

"How so?"

"Well, you know each Guardian has a Centre – something they exist for, something they bring to the world and protect in children. Mine is the fun."

Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows. "So by telling you to stop looking on the fun side of things-"

"She basically ordered me not to act like myself, yeah." He sighed again and finally looked at Hiccup. "I just felt like an absolute moron, like _a clown_ for trying to cheer everyone up. I mean, what can a little laughter do in the end? It's not much of a difference, is it?"

"Of course it is, Jack, it makes all the difference in the world! Laughter, fun joy – it's what _defeats_ the fear, and you know it! _I_ know it because _you_ told me so!" He inhaled deeply. "Look, face it. We are _nothing_ without you – wouldn't have gotten out of that town, wouldn't have survived so far, wouldn't have known where to go to in the first place, wouldn't have even _met_ each other!" He was silent for a bit. "You're the most powerful out of all of us, Jack, and not just because of your powers. You made us meet one another, cheer us up and hold us together and bring us hope – with _laughter_ , _fun_ , _joy_. That's your Centre. That's you. And it's hard to manage without you, even half a day." Jack smiled a small smile. The brunette grinned back, changing tactics. "I mean, have you seen us? Me, for example – a dragon-less, crippled, walking, talking, sulking fishbone. If only there was someone to cheer me up…"

And that's why what Rapunzel and Merida found when they got to the camp were two walking, talking, laughing snowmen. Of course, the two girls didn't hesitate a moment and joined in the fun.

That night they stood the first watch together, laughing, telling each other stories and sipping hot hazelnut soup. When the thin crescent of the moon rose a bit after midnight Jack finally managed to convince them to catch some sleep and the three were forcefully sent to their metaphorical beds (but it wasn't an easy battle). The girls slept soundly till the morning broke, lost in peaceful dreams.

Hiccup, though, dreamt of Toothless again. He was chained and muzzled, just like before the battle with the Red Death. Then another image flashed - the Night Fury was underwater, drowning.

The brunette awoke with a gasp. He didn't fall asleep again.


	20. Chapter 19

**A/N: Again, that's the longest chapter so far but I'm really unhappy with the first, like, four fifths of it but whatever. Now, the main action scene is LOOSELY based on something that happened to me this summer. I don't claim the description's accurate because it isn't, but it's the best I could do and I suck at action anyway. Sorry in advance.  
To answer the Guest review, I'm so so SO sorry, but no shipping :( Only cannon ships and not in this book. Sorry for disappointing...**

 **ALSO! Again with the language authenticy thingy, there's a part of this chapter that's supposed to be in Ukranian but I don't know it and, again, as of now it's in Bulgarian. I'd be really thankfull if someone could translate it.**

* * *

The sixth day after the new moon found the quartet walking through a vast plain field. They had no way of knowing that it was actually gently rolling hills – their height was barely changing and the view was semi-obscured by patches of fog that seemed to exist in spite of the wind blowing from the teens' left. To be perfectly honest though, they wouldn't have noticed even if they had ideal conditions, much less cared about it.

The last few days had taken a toll on them, especially on Hiccup. He barely slept – every night he was plagued by the same dream of his best friend and every night it developed; that morning the brunette had told the others he'd seen the four of them wandering through a damp stone corridor, at the end of which was the chamber with the muzzled Toothless. After that it was always a blur, but it inevitably ended with the drowning dragon. What fazed the Viking the most was his utter inability to do anything; Hiccup was slowly closing in on himself and the other three often found themselves eyeing him with concern.

Merida huffed, brushing away the hair the northern wind kept throwing in her face from behind her. All the slow walking was getting on her nerves; they had no other option though – they had tried travelling with Rapunzel in Jack's arms and Hiccup sat behind Merida on Angus' saddle and it hadn't ended very well…

* * *

 _'_ _Look! A will-o'-da-wisp!' Merida cried and spurred Angus so sharply that Hiccup almost fell off. The Clydesdale shot forward, leaving Jack and Rapunzel behind._

 _"_ _What did she get so excited for?" The Guardian asked the blonde who shrugged._

 _"_ _She mentioned a will-o'-the-wisp, I think."_

 _He squinted in the distance. "That little flame over there? But it's not even blue…" Rapunzel gasped._

 _"_ _Hold on, a flame in a fiery colour in the middle of nowhere? Jack, that's either a robbers' campfire or a wandering flame, it'll lead them in the midst of a marsh to drown!"_

 _Jack immediately ushered the wind to take them to their friends, but when they did catch up it was a bit late – Angus was stuck in a swamp, slowly sinking in, and so were his riders._

 _"_ _Why'd da wisp lead meh here?" Merida spluttered, not understanding. "They're always kind, they'd never want ta hurt anybody!"_

 _"_ _That's just it, Merida, what you saw wasn't a wisp." The two stuck raised their eyes and small relief washed all over their features at the sight of their two friends._

 _"_ _What do you mean it wasn't a wisp, Rapunzel?"_

 _"_ _Well, Hiccup, like Merida said, the wisps are kind in nature and never mean harm, they're only messengers. What lead you here obviously did mean you harm though. Plus it was orange and not blue, I think it must've been a wandering flame. Anyway, that doesn't matter, how will we get you out of here?"_

 _"_ _Ahem." The three turned to look at the momentarily forgotten Jack who was hovering just above the horse with a half-grin, half-smirk. "I suggest you leave that to me."_

 _A wave of the crooked staff had a thick icy path wind and loop its way over the swamp and out of it – a little bumpy, yes, but the spirit had crafted it with Rapunzel hanging in his arms. He landed lightly on it and the newly-formed ice around his feet smoothed out the next couple of meters. He carefully put the blonde down and, once she was stable on her feet, looked up to grin at the two riders._

 _"_ _Do you believe in me?" They nodded. Jack grabbed Rapunzel's hand and yelled out: "Hey, wind! Take us outta here!"_

 _Just like that, the two riders were knocked off the saddle and landed safely on the icy path; they slipped, however, and the wind that had pushed them only increased their momentum so they found themselves sliding on the path right behind Jack and Rapunzel who were skating on it. The ice that spread from under Jack's feet smoothed out the surface and the whole process was actually quite – once you got past the initial shock, of course. And the yelling that came with it._

 _When there was solid ground under their feet again, Jack flew back to the stuck Angus to try and help. Since the three were a bit far from there they had no idea how exactly the spirit managed to free the Clydesdale, but it sure had involved a lot of ice._

* * *

Jack tried to drown out the nagging feeling of worry and concentrate on the task at hand – namely, walking. But that was getting harder and harder, seeing as the wind had grown stronger and pushed at them with such force that they could fall over to the left at any moment. Funny, the spirit could've sworn the wind had been blowing from the left to the right, not the other way around… Or was it from their backs… Something in his head clicked and the nagging feeling doubled. Now wait just a second…

"At first the wind was blowing from our left," Jack murmured, frozen in spot, "then from behind us, then from the right… But that doesn't make any sense, this is a plain field, there are no rocks or hills to misdirect the wind and we haven't changed direction… It's almost like there's a-"

Suddenly, the thing in his head clicked again and his face paled with dawning horror. "No, no, no, you're kidding me, you're actually kidding me…"

He swore as he shot forward – because his friends had gone on and he couldn't see them in the fog. "Guys!" he yelled over the roaring wind. No answer followed.

The spirit stopped again, struggling to stay on the ground and willing all his senses to pick a sign – any sign – of Hiccup, Merida and Rapunzel. For a long moment there was nothing – then his ears caught on to a faint sound. Jack listened intently, trying to figure out what the sound was and where it came from; the furious wind was certainly not helping though. Eventually he managed to decipher the noise – frantic yells. Chills ran down his spine.

"Oh no…" The Guardian shot in the air, trying to guide the wind to where his friends were calling from; the angry air currents pulled and pushed at him as if he were a nutshell in a raging sea, but never-the-less he moved towards the eye of the storm.

For a storm it was and Jack was berating himself that he hadn't noticed it sooner – the mysterious patches of fog, the ever-changing direction of the wind, it all practically _screamed_ 'tornado' – and yet he hadn't noticed, had he? Stupid, distracted, reckless-

"Help!"

The cry pulled him back to reality like a slap to the face, and quite a literal one too – a moment later a golden lock whipped his cheek. The spirit reacted immediately – he grabbed it and let himself be tossed this way and that by the air currents, climbing up the lock. Soon enough he saw the blonde's body floating nearby, the storm playing with it as if it were a ragdoll; a few more seconds of effort allowed him to grab hold of her.

"Jack?" Green eyes, wide with fear, locked with his blue ones.

"Don't worry, I've got you!"

She clung onto him for dear life as he willed the wind – not the savage air currents, his friend – to lift them up, up, up, over the storm. The blue sky and the bright sun above momentarily blinded him, but he quickly came to and flew the blonde southwards. He put her down atop a hill a couple of miles away from the storm and looked her up and down worriedly.

"Are you okay? Anything hurt? Did the storm hit you in the ground?"

"Yeah, no, I-I'm fine, really," Rapunzel assured him.

"Do you have Pascal?" She nodded and showed him the little chameleon she'd been clutching to her heart; he was greener than usual and had trouble staying upright but he was there, unhurt. Jack breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright. I'd better go get Hiccup, Merida and Angus… You take care of yourself while I'm gone, okay Punzie? Find a hiding place around here and stay there – if I'm right and this storm _was_ Vihra's deed, I'd rather I didn't leave you out in the open…"

He was about to take off but he turned again. "You sure you'll be alright?"

"Yeah, don't worry," she smiled softly, "go get them." Jack nodded and was off.

As he flew into the storm once more he noticed it had worsened – from foggy-gray the clouds had become pitch-black and the raging air currents had increased their speed as well; their howl was all but deafening by now and yet Jack could swear he heard Vihra's laughter in the wind. Scowling, he tried to drown it out and focus on locating his friends. Just as he thought he heard a shout something collided with him, knocking the air out of his lungs.

"Oomph! What the- Hiccup?"

"Jack?!"

"How did- nevermind, just, hold on to me, we'll be out in a flash…"

The spirit looked around again, trying to locate Merida. And maybe luck had finally left Vihra, for he saw her – far, far below, almost on the ground. She was holding on to Angus' harness, thus increasing their weight and letting them stay lower. But the veela-witch wasn't giving up without a fight – the winds were pulling and pushing at the princess, knocking her off the saddle and trying to tear her away from her horse; by now she'd only managed to keep hold of the reigns and she could loose it any given moment. Jack's time was running short.

The Guardian tightened his hold on Hiccup and, summoning the wind, flew towards the redhead. However, the storm grew even angrier – the air currents were all but dismembering the two boys, as if Vihra was doing everything in her might to prevent them from reaching the princess. Jack scowled in frustration – he was too far and he was too slow and he would fail the girl who was literally counting on him to save her life; all of a sudden he felt as if he was once more witnessing Sandy's death. His expression hardened; he wasn't loosing anyone ever again. So he flew towards her with new strength, shouting out a "Hold on there, Merida!"

He got to her just when she lost her grip.

Jack didn't have a free hand to grab her – one was occupied with his staff, the other with Hiccup. But before he had the chance to despair the Viking's hands shot forward to clutch Merida's wrists; one of his arms even managed to pass through the loop of the reigns, thus securing the three's place near the horse.

"Lads?!" she yelled over the wind wide-eyed; Jack smiled at her despite their condition.

"It's okay, we've got you! Now try and hold on to Angus, both of you…"

He did all he could to help them do so but the air currents seemed to refuse to let go of their toys so easily – they pulled and pushed at the teens like waves at a boat. But when Merida's hair slapped Jack in the face for the third time in half a minute he'd had enough.

"Okay, that's the last drop!" The Viking and the Scot looked up at him and were startled to see the Winter Spirit so angry. He threw them a look. "Guys, duck."

As soon as they did they heard Jack yell; his shout was accompanied by a cold wave and the loudest _snap!_ they'd ever heard. The two risked a glance and their jaws dropped.

The Guardian had created a galaxy of icy shards that the wind – Jack's friend, that is – had picked up and spun around; they were now swirling around the teens and Angus in a perfect sphere, preventing the savage air currents from reaching the four inside – a temporary icy shield.

"Jack, this is…" Hiccup looked around wide-eyed; upon catching sight of the Winter Spirit, though, panic took hold of him. "Jack? Jack!"

The Guardian was hanging limply in the air, on the verge of a blackout. Before the very eyes of his two friends he lost it for a second and fell out of the wind's embrace; he was only saved by Merida's quick reaction – she reached out and caught him, dragging him on to the saddle.

"Jack!"

"C'mon lad, wake up!"

The white-haired boy blinked awake, looking around for a moment dizzily. "What-"

"Ye fell," Merida supplied concernedly, "after yer stunt with da icy shield. Da thing's still holdin', by da way."

"Oh…" he murmured. It made sense – almost the same had happened during the aftermath of Sandy's death, immediately after he'd fired that almighty blast at Pitch. Such large amounts of energy probably took their toll on jim.

"You okay?"

The spirit smiled at Hiccup. "Mostly. We'd better get out of here though."

"With our combined weight we're 'bout a dozen feet off da ground," Merida interrupted.

Jack sighed. "Good. Now hold onto something, it'll probably be a bumpy ride." He shook his head to wake up a bit more and jumped in the air again, grabbing the reigns. "Hey wind!" he yelled; they instantly felt their hairs being ruffled. "Take us outta here, buddy!"

And a sudden gust of wind threw the teens and the close-to-panicked Angus out of the storm. What's more, it took them all the way to the base of the hill where Jack had left Rapunzel. Speaking of the devil, the blonde quickly emerged from her hiding place and rushed to her friends' side.

"Thank goodness you made it, I was starting to worry! Is anyone hurt? I left my hair unbraided just in case…"

"Relax, Punzie, we're fine," Hiccup smiled. "Jack's still a bit weak though."

"What do you mean 'weak'?"

"No, no, don't you worry, I'm perfectly fine!" Jack insisted. Merida cut him.

"Nonsense, ye almost fainted after yer stunt! That lad," she informed Rapunzel, "made a temporary icy shield ta protect us an' overexhausted himself."

The blonde looked him over worriedly. "Are you alright? Do you need me to heal you, or something to eat or maybe-"

" _Rapunzel_." She stopped and looked up at him. He smiled. "I'm alright, I promise, it was just the extent of the power I used – too much tires me. It's happened before, I'll be as good as new before you know it. Plus I'm a spirit – I don't actually _need_ food to survive…" His easy grin soon fell though. "Speaking of food, how much of the luggage has survived?"

"Erm…" Merida took a minute to rummage through the bags on Angus' saddle; then she looked up. "Da good news is that actually very wee's lost, da bad news though's that da map's gone."

"Well, it's not so bad, we mostly know the way…" Rapunzel tried to cheer them up. It didn't seem to be working on the princess.

"'M sorry, ye guys, it's all mah fault, first da arrow an' now da map…"

"Hey, don't go blaming yourself," Hiccup murmured calmingly, "I'm sure we'll manage."

"Yep, it's just a piece of parchment, is it not?" Merida reluctantly nodded and Jack grinned. "There, all is well. Erm, not _all_ , actually, I won't be well until we get as far as possible from that wicked woman. It's unnerving, you know, knowing she's that close… Just, let's get a move on, shall we?"

The other three agreed and five minutes later they were once again trudging southwards.

It was probably an hour or so before sundown when the quartet stumbled upon a wooden sign. Why it was put there was a mystery to them – there wasn't anything even remotely similar to a road, in fact the place seemed no different than the rest of the area. On the sign were scribbled words with peeling white paint.

 _Пътнико,  
В твоя помощ и услуга поставяме  
този знак, за да те насочи. Ако  
пътуваш към местата, някога познати  
като България, то поеми на югозапад.  
Ако ли пък пътят ти е към земите на  
маджарите, то западът е твоята  
посока. На добър път!_

"Jack, can you read it?" Rapunzel asked. The spirit squinted.

"I think I can. Okay, let's see…" He leaned towards the sign, slowly translating aloud. "Okay, it begins with a form of address, it means _traveller_ , I think. So… _Traveller, in your_ … 'help and favour'? Who speaks like that? Anyway, _in your help and favour we put this sign to guide you. If you travel to the lands once_ , uh… Oh! _Once known as Bulgaria_ -"

"That's where we're headed!" Merida exclaimed; Rapunzel smiled but Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows.

"- _then go to the southwest. If_ … I don't know that small word, it probably doesn't matter anyway, _if_ something _your way is to the land of the Majar then westwards is where you should head. Have a nice_ … okay, now this literally means _road_ but here it should be read like _journey_ , I think."

"Great, so we're going in the right direction!" Rapunzel smiled. Hiccup shook his head.

"Are we though?" The blonde looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just…" The brunette didn't know how to word it. "I mean, it's literally a sign in the middle of nowhere, right? Who would put it here?"

"Are ye implyin' that it's a trap?" Merida asked.

"I'm not implying anything, it's just weird."

"Hiccup's right, there _is_ something fishy about that sign…" Jack mused. "Do you think-"

"-'twas Vihra who put it here?" Merida finished his words. "I wouldn' put it past her ta do so."

"Then it would mean that she's mismatched the directions, right?" Rapunzel asked rhetorically. "It would mean that our way is westwards and not to the southwest." Hiccup nodded.

"At least I think so."

"Well then," Jack grinned at them, "a change of course is in order. So, towards the sunset we go!" The others laughed and the four and the horse turned to the right and kept on walking, chatting pleasantly.

Behind the receding group the shadow of the sign moved, twisting and changing its form. Soon enough a woman's shade materialised and, sneering to itself, ran off to inform its mistress of what had happened. She would be pleased that her plan had succeeded and the insolent pests were now going in the wrong direction. Because the directions on the sign had been true, Vihra had only had to toy a bit with the four's vigilance to lead them astray.

But the witch had too made a mistake – she'd had the stupidity to direct the teens to where she kept Toothless.


	21. Chapter 20

**A/N: Sorry for being late, I would've finished typing this last night but we watched LotR: The two Towers (my favourite movie ever!) and the extended edition is like 4 hours long so things kinda got out of hand... Anyway, here in this chapter there is an event that's inspired by a scene in the LotR book (speaking of, Vihra's voice change too is inspired by something in LotR, and the scene with the wolves too). And there's this mythical creature with which I've taken some creative liberties. (Also, this is the longest chapter yet - by 1000 words, wtf?!)**

* * *

 _Darkness – it was all around him, darkness and cold damp stones. He was running, desperately following the tunnel's way, sometimes turning right and sometimes left but mostly just rushing straight ahead. He could hear more feet pattering behind, but couldn't be bothered, not when he knew his best friend was at the end of the corridor. So he kept on running, faster and faster, until he couldn't hear the others anymore. All that could be heard now was the pounding of his footsteps, the repetitive_ clang, clang _of his peg leg, the occasional splash when he stepped in a puddle and, most of all, his heavy breaths and the thunderous beating of his heart._

 _After an eternity of running he finally reached an archway. He knew what was on its other side, so he rushed through it and into the great echoing chamber that was filled with strange greenish light. In its very centre was his best friend, chained and muzzled like before the battle with the Red Death._

 _"_ _Toothless!" he gasped, ran to his friend and embraced him. The Night Fury crooned happily and tried, even with the chains, to nuzzle in his rider. He laughed. "Missed you too, bud…"_

 _He heard a faint sound, gradually increasing – footsteps. The closer they got, the more blurred everything became until it transformed to the horrifying yet familiar image of the drowning Toothless. He tried to reach out but he felt suffocated, he couldn't breathe – he too was drowning, he realised._

 _"_ _ **Serves you right!**_ _" Vihra's voice sneered in his head._

Hiccup awoke with a gasp; it took him a minute to calm his racing heart.

"Hey, you alright?"

He raised his eyes to see Jack looking at him concerned from atop his staff. He nodded. "Yeah, fine."

"You sure?"

Another nod. "Don't worry, I-I don't feel like sleeping anyway. Why don't you go take a nap or… fly or something. I'll keep watch."

But the Guardian would have none of it. He hopped off his perch and jogged next to Hiccup. "C'mon, what's eating at you? Was it the dream again?" The brunette looked away. "Oh, Hiccup, I'm sorry…"

"It's not your fault, I'm just useless and that's that, period." He was quiet for a bit, pretending not to notice Jack's disapproving look. "But you know…" The brunette shifted so that he was looking at his friend. "I could _swear_ I heard Vihra speak in my head this time."

The white-haired boy furrowed his eyebrows. "You sure? Has this happened before?"

"No, but it was definitely her."

"What'd she say?"

"It was like mocking I think? Or gloating, she said 'serves you right' or something along those lines…"

The spirit scowled. "Blasted woman… We'll find him, Hiccup, there's no way we won't manage to, I promise!"

He smiled. "Thanks."

The other grinned. "What are friends for?" Then his expression softened. "You'd better go back to sleep though." The brunette shook his head.

"I can't. Not after the dream."

Jack sighed. "Okay then." And he plopped down next to Hiccup. The two kept their silent vigil until the dawn broke; then they woke the two girls and set off again. Because it was the 10th day after the new moon and the four were running out of time.

They had left the tricky fields and marshes behind and were trudging through a chain of mountains for the second day in a roll. Nothing extraordinary had happened so far, but that only put the teens on edge – who knew what devilry Vihra was brewing for them.

It was with these thoughts that the small group started ascending an especially steep slope; the path they were following was supposed to lead them to a long forgotten pass but the old shepherd who'd said so seemed a bit, well, crazy and the relevance of his words was debatable. They were _some_ directions nevertheless so on the four went, on and on and on until they reached the ridge. It was midday already and the teens were so tired they could barely walk so they decided to collectively take a nap – not a long one, an hour at the most. And the cave that seemed to appear out of nowhere looked so cool and shady, perfect for a short relaxation; even the wind seemed to whisper a lullaby for them. So in the teens went.

As she was nodding off, snuggled in Angus' warm body, Merida caught sight of the brunette curling up in a corner and of the albino sitting by the entrance of the cave and fighting a yawn. She fell asleep, feeling the blonde cuddled up next to her.

* * *

Rapunzel woke up and her eyes were immediately blinded by the setting sun. She moaned in distaste, raising a hand to block out the light.

Suddenly her hand froze in mid-air. Green eyes flew open and the girl shot up to check that – yes, it was sunset alright. But how had they overslept so much, Jack was supposed to- Her gaze went to the Guardian and when she found him asleep (and he'd promised he'd keep watch) a bad feeling formed in her gut. She looked around, suddenly feeling uneasy in the once oh-so-inviting and cosy cave.

"Wake up! Wake up everybody!" she cried, a note of near-desperation in her voice. But the others were showing any signs of life – only Jack shuffled a bit and the blonde rushed towards him. "Jack! Jack, come on!"

Shaken by Rapunzel's frantic hands, the spirit slowly blinked himself awake. "… What? Punzie, what's wrong?" Then he saw the sun. "Holy winter, is it sunset? When did this happen?!"

"I don't know, I woke up and I found you all asleep, Merida and Hiccup still are!"

Jack's face contorted in almost-fear. "Still are?" He jumped up and ran to the closest of the two, who happened to be the brunette, and started shaking him. Even though her sense screamed at her to do the same with Merida, Rapunzel kneeled by the spirit's side, worried out of her mind and throwing sense out of the window. Jack's shaking seemed to work though – Hiccup's green orbs soon squinted at the two; the blonde sighed with relief and her arms flew to embrace the Viking as the Guardian offered him a relieved smile and ran off to waken the redhead.

"Rapunzel?" Hiccup questioned; she just held him tighter. When she released him she helped him up and the two hurried to the other half of their team. It was perfect timing – Jack shook Merida awake the moment the two were by his side; a second later the redhead too was engulfed in a hug.

"I thought, for a moment, that you'd died, all of you," Rapunzel murmured in her friend's hair, "when you wouldn't wake up I thought I'd lost you… I'm just glad you're all fine…" She let go of Merida and hugged Jack too.

"But whut's all this 'bout?" the redhead questioned, "Why were ye so worried?" Hiccup nodded, the redhead having voiced his thoughts as well.

The blonde separated from the Guardian and moved a strand of hair behind her ear. "I-I woke up and saw that it was _sunset_ and we fell asleep _at noon_ and I called but you wouldn't wake up…" The Viking and the Scot looked at one another in belated alarm, then back at the other two.

"It's Vihra's doing," Jack stated grimly. "We all fell asleep too easily, I'd bet anything it was black magic and if she managed to make Merida fall ill then who's to say she can't bewitch us to fall asleep?"

"I knew 'twas strange when I saw ye yawnin', Jack." The redhead murmured, absentmindedly patting Angus who'd neighed worriedly.

"Well, we can't do much about it now, can we?" Hiccup reasoned, his voice rising to be heard over the Clydesdale's neighing. "We'd better leave, we've lost half a day already."

"I'm not sure how we'll make it," Rapunzel admitted as the teens turned towards the exit of the cave, "we only ha-"

All of them froze.

Because the exit was blocked by one of the largest dragons Hiccup had ever seen and the largest the other three had. Its ruby-red scales were flashing in the light of the setting sun and its twelve heads were raised like a cobra's hood; a dozen pairs of eyes the colour of molten gold were trained on the teens, their pupils were tiny slits.

"A balaur," Rapunzel whispered almost inaudibly; at the same moment Merida notched an arrow and Jack raised his staff, both weapons aimed at the creature. Its pupils narrowed even more and a low growl in twelve slightly different pitches rose from the twelve throats. The two gripped their weapons tighter, ready to shoot.

"No!" Hiccup hissed; suddenly a dozen sets of eyes focused on him. Noting that, he stared back at one of the central heads, slowly raising his arms in front of himself in a gesture that said 'I'm not going to hurt you'; the head held his gaze while the others fixed his hands or his friends. Equally slowly and in a perfectly composed voice he said: Guys, lower the weapons."

"Whut?!" Merida hissed incredulously just as Jack exclaimed in a whisper: "Are you out of your mind?!"

"Trust me on this one." He murmured, his gaze never wavering from one of the heads'. The two hesitated a bit but tentatively did as told. "Punzie, what did you say this was?"

"A balaur," the blonde whispered wide-eyed.

"But it looks like a dragon… Is it one?"

"Yes, the local version of."

"Then it's enough for me. He's a dragon and I'm going to train him."

With these words Hiccup took a small step forward, his right hand rising a bit. He immediately stopped, however, when the growling started again. He stepped back carefully and it ceased; he moved forward and there it was again. He took a step back, staring at the balaur as he stopped growling, and didn't miss the way the creature's many eyes were flicking every-so-often to his friends.

"Okay, guys," he calmly spoke, "don't panic now but he doesn't trust us. I can't do what I usually do – show him that _I_ trust him – because he'll still be wary with you in the back."

"Okay then, what do we do?" Jack whispered, his hands tight on his staff.

"Can ye calm him down another way?" Merida added.

Hiccup thought for a bit, his eyes never leaving the balaur's golden orbs. "I have seen dragons calm down when I used a lit torch, that one was almost hypnotised, but it's happened only once and anyway we can't light a fire without making him snap."

"D'we have ta fight him then?"

The Viking sighed at the princess' question. "I _really_ don't want to get there…"

"We might not have to." Rapunzel spoke up for the first time in a while; the two dozens of eyes immediately flew to her, making her breath hitch, but still she went on in a quiet voice. "Hiccup, how exactly does the thing with the fire work again?"

"Well," he started carefully an inaudibly sighed in relief when Rapunzel wasn't the main focus of the eyes anymore, "dragons believe that only other dragons can wield fire, it puts them at ease if a fire-wielding being is in front of them. That's my theory, at least."

"Could we do the same with my hair's light?"

Hiccup shook his head, then slowly raised his hands in front of himself when the melodic growl rose from the twelve throats at the sudden movement. "Easy, boy…" he soothed in a whisper and continued when it subdued, "I'm not sure it'll work. I don't think I'll risk it, if I was alone – alright, but with you three…"

The blonde was quiet for a bit. "So, if I read this right, you have to show a dragon that you're one and the same to get it to trust you?" Hiccup slowly nodded, almost dumbfounded; he now saw the beginning of Toothless' and his story in a whole new light. She continued: "And his growl is so melodic and I thought that perhaps if I sang it would calm him down and then you could do the thing with the trust."

And the brunette's voice was back. "You know what, that could work! But…" His enthusiasm evaporated a bit. "… you'll have to come here, next to me, we have to be near him to show him we trust him… Are you okay with that?"

She nodded, then realised he couldn't see her – he'd kept on staring at the balaur lest he'd aggravate him – so she called out a quiet 'yeah'.

"It's great that you two came up with a plan, but what do Merida and I do in the meantime?" Jack whisper-called from behind them.

Hiccup nodded. "Right. Look, I hate myself for saying it, but this is a wild dragon, anything could happen, so you two – our warriors, if I may – should be ready to get us out of a sticky situation, just a bit behind so that we don't aggravate him.

"So we're backup? Good plan, lad!" Merida approved in a hushed voice. "Ye tell us when ta move back a bit, okay? Ye're da chief."

The brunette huffed, masking his nervousness. "Right, no pressure…" He then focused on the creature. "Ney, bud…" He swallowed the lump in his throat at the mention of his best friend's pet name and continued: "I won't hurt you, I promise. I know we took you home but it wasn't intentional, alright? I know Jack and Merida probably scare you. They're a bit afraid of you too. So they'll move back a bit, just to make us all comfortable, yeah?" The heads stared unblinkingly at him. "There they go… C'mon, guys." The shuffling of feet from behind and the way a few pairs of eyes strayed towards it told Hiccup his friends had moved back. When the sound stopped the Viking went on: "See? No trouble. Now I'd like you to meet Rapunzel, I'm sure you'll like her…"

The blonde strode forward with careful fluid movements until she was side by side with the brunette. "Hello," she smiled a small smile at the balaur, "you're really beautiful."

"We want to be your friends, bud." Hiccup explained. "I already said I don't mean you harm but you don't trust me because I have a weapon." His fingers touched the shield strapped to his back and the melodic growl rose again. "That's why I'm going to get rid of it." And he demonstratively flung the shield some distance away from himself; the dragon's pupils widened a bit, but mostly stayed the same. "There, I'm unarmed. Jack and Merida still have weapons though because you aren't calm. Punzie will sing a song to soothe you, okay?"

Hiccup dared to look away from the balaur for a short moment to smile at the blonde. She took a breath and softly sang, staring at a pair of beautiful golden eyes.

 _There once was a someone who nobody knew,  
A someone of darkness and 'hate you's.  
He chose for himself the foulest to do –  
To gift us with horror and scare us. _

Despite the slightly creepy lyrics the song had a serene monotone melody that immediately put one's mind at ease.

 _His being was one of the utmost aggression  
And hatred – a scary grotesque.  
His eyes always sneered, mocking in fashion,  
His teeth were pointy, his grin – of a snake._

 _But he was most feared because of his voice,  
For it was so scary to most –  
Louder than screaming, yet doesn't make noise  
And fit to command even a ghost. _

_He thought of himself as powerful lord  
Yet his days of rule were but counted –  
A prophecy did so, privately told  
And captured in secret and solemnly guarded. _

_It told of belief and hope and forever  
Trapped in the smallest of hands,  
It told of survive and alone and together  
And four heroes that brought others with them. _

The more the song unfolded, the bigger the balaur's pupils became and towards the middle of the third verse he'd started purring along. Upon seeing this Hiccup began to gently sway from side to side and by the first line of the fourth verse the creature was doing so too, unknowingly timing his movements with the brunette's. He noticed that as well and started slowing his swaying, making the dragon do too, and at the same time started slowly moving forward. Thus the end of the song found him right in front of the balaur, his right hand raised just a few inches in front of one of his heads' snout.

Hiccup stared back at the mesmerising golden orbs for a second, then dropped his head and closed his eyes. For the longest time nothing happened, all was quiet and he momentarily feared his hand would be snapped off; when a full minute had passed he was debating pulling back and even started forming a plan as to how to get past the balaur with minimal casualties for both sides.

And then he felt scales pressing themselves to his palm. His eyes flew open and he felt thrilling wonder wash all over him at the side of the magnificent creature that was pressing one of his many snouts to his hand. The other 11 heads had their eyes closed as well, hanging unmoving in mid-air and spread like a peacock's tail. A moment passed and the 24 golden eyes blinked open, but the dragon didn't pull back from Hiccup's hand. What's more, three more heads separated from the fan of necks and lowered, their amber orbs fixing the teens.

Then it struck Hiccup. "Guys, he wants to bond with _all of us_!" The others gaped at him, but one look at his big smile – so rare a sight recently – helped make their minds and they nodded. The two 'warriors', as the brunette had called them, tentatively walked forward until they were in line with him and Rapunzel. She reached out first, shyly putting a hand on the balaur's nose. The head immediately and quite enthusiastically nuzzled in her palm, a small croon emitting from its throat. The blonde giggled and caressed the smooth scales more boldly. Encouraged by that, Merida reached out too and slowly petted the head in front of her; when it showed no hostility the princess became more comfortable and was soon scratching behind the dragon's ears, causing it to purr contently. Jack reached out more tentatively; his worry caused frost to sprout from his fingertips when they connected with the head's scales. The balaur seemed to like the cold sensation though – it snorted and cooed in what could be interpreted as chuckling, causing another head to lower and sniff the Winter Spirit curiously; he laughed in glee and coated the second head's scales in frost as well.

Hiccup looked around with a smile – both Jack and Merida were interacting with a pair of heads while the other seven were crowded around Rapunzel and were… purring along to her song? The Viking chuckled. Well, what did he know, he only was – and quoting – 'the dragon conqueror'… His smile fell as he patted the dragon's snout, directing the head he had bonded with towards Jack, and moved a few feet away. He berated himself for momentarily forgetting Toothless – how could he have done it, that was his best friend! His very best friend who was chained and locked gods-know-where, had been for the last 10 days, and Hiccup was still in the middle of nowhere when he should've freed him ages ago! For Thor's sake, it was his _best friend_!

"Are ye upset 'cause o' da dream? An' not havin' Toothless with ye in general?"

He hadn't noticed when Merida had walked next to him, but it didn't surprise him that it was her. Despite her tough exterior, she was good at noticing subtle changes in one's mood, even if she didn't always act on it. She reminded him of Astrid in a way. "Thank you for summing that up."

"Whut's worryin' ye so much? That ye won' be able ta find him? Hiccup, we'll manage that."

He shook his head. "You don't understand, I _replaced him_ , I trained and bonded with another dragon when I should've-"

"In that case ye've replaced him long ago."

Hiccup felt as if he was gutted. "What?!"

Merida shrugged. "Well, ye bonded with all o' us, didn' ye? Surely that means ye've replaced him." Oh. _Oh_. Her and Astrid had more in common than he originally thought. "C'mon, cheer up, we'll find him an' he'll be right as rain when we do. He wouldn' want ye worrying yer head over it _that_ much." And now she sounded a bit like his father had on that Snoggletock! What was that, the impressions-of-Hiccup's-tribe hour?

He must've made a face because Merida laughed. "Don' think it, it'll be fine. Now come an' name that big lad, none o' us've any experience in that."

"You sure it won't be a mistake?" Jack called from behind, "I mean – Barf and Belch, for Manny's sake!"

"Hey, don't go blaming me for that, the twins chose it!" Hiccup defended himself as the redhead burst out laughing. The Viking threw Jack a dirty look when the latter snorted. "Is that a challenge? You think I only come up with ridiculous names?"

"Well…"

Okay, now Hiccup _had_ to wipe that smirk off the spirit's face. He walked to the dragon's side and crooned – _crooned_ , Jack couldn't believe it! – grabbing the attention of all twelve heads and drawing them towards himself, making them leave Rapunzel who'd just introduced Pascal. "Hey boy," he softly spoke, smiling and petting the snout closest to him, "how would you like the name Windcatcher for yourself, hmm?"

Jack had to grin at the balaur's enthusiastic reaction because who wouldn't grin at watching a dozen overly excited heads trying to nuzzle in the Viking at once? (Even if he claimed that "The name was good because Rapunzel's been rubbing off of you, my point's still valid, Dragonboy!") When the affectionate attack had been fended off – mostly – and Windcatcher had made friends with Pascal and Angus (which only took half an hour) it was already dark enough to not see anything so it was collectively decided that the group would camp out – well, in – the cave and continue the next day. (Travelling should be much faster because they'd be flying on the balaur's back.) So everyone snuggled comfortably in Windcarcher's warm side and soon fell asleep as Jack stood guard, perched atop his staff, as always.

It wasn't even a quarter of an hour later when bright bluish light crept on the cave's floor. Puzzled, the Guardian raised his head – to see the waxing moon shining through an opening in the cave's roof.

"Manny?" Jack murmured, looking to the patch of light in front of him, "Want to tell me something?"

The bluish spot shifted its shape, forming the message from Man in Moon. The Winter Spirit leaned in deciphering it and with every passing moment his mouth dropped a little bit in realisation…

* * *

 _Darkness – it was all around him, darkness and cold damp stones. He was running, desperately following the tunnel's way, sometimes turning right and sometimes left but mostly just rushing straight ahead. He could hear more feet pattering behind, but couldn't be bothered, not when he knew his best friend was at the end of the corridor. So he kept on running, faster and faster, until he couldn't hear the others anymore. All that could be heard now was the pounding of his footsteps, the repetitive_ clang, clang _of his peg leg, the occasional splash when he stepped in a puddle and, most of all, his heavy breaths and the thunderous beating of his heart._

 _After an eternity of running he finally reached an archway. He knew what was on its other side, so he rushed through it and into the great echoing chamber that was filled with strange greenish light. In its very centre was his best friend, chained and muzzled like before the battle with the Red Death._

 _"_ _Toothless!" he gasped, ran to his friend and embraced him. The Night Fury crooned happily and tried, even with the chains, to nuzzle in his rider. He laughed. "Missed you too, bud…"_

 _He heard a faint sound, gradually increasing – footsteps. The closer they got, the more blurred everything became until it transformed to the horrifying yet familiar image of the drowning Toothless. He tried to reach out but he felt suffocated, he couldn't breathe – he too was drowning, he realised._

 _"_ _ **Serves you right!**_ _" Vihra's voice sneered in his head but it came as if from underwater; towards the end of the sentence it was fully drowned out and a new voice called to him, faraway but clear._

 _"_ _He's by the Balaton Lake, Hiccup, in the land of the Majar! He's by Balaton Lake, Balaton lake, Balato-"_

"Balaton Lake!" Hiccup cried out and woke up, shooting up. And immediately fell back with a groan because his head had collided with something…

"Oh, Manny, my head!"

… Jack's head, as it turned out. As soon as his vision stopped swimming and cleared out Hiccup shot up again and ran past the startled Guardian to his stuff, throwing it carelessly in a bag.

"Whoa, Hiccup, what's going on?"

The brunette didn't even look at him as he answered: "It was the dream again, but the end a voice called to me and told me where to find Toothless, I'm late enough as it is so I'm leaving immediately." That's when he looked up at his friend. "I _have_ to save him."

"So why're you leaving alone?"

Hiccup's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"Did you really think we'd let you leave on your own?" the Guardian repeated.

The dragon rider looked thrown off-guard. "But you don't- It's only four days till- I-It's bad enough that I thought to take-"

"So you really did think it?"

Both boys turned around startled; they hadn't noticed the commotion had woken the girls who were now staring them down.

"You know we're friends, Hiccup, friends stick together – and you thought we'd bail on something so important to you?" Rapunzel continued, looking at him with a mix of accusation, hurt, pity and fondness.

Merida picked her line: "We too want Toothless back, if only fer ye." She grinned at his surprised expression. "Sorry, lad, no backing out now. Can' get rid o' us if ye wanted ta."

"Couldn't've said it better myself," Jack smiled. "Now that it's decided we're all leaving – don't even think about it, Hiccup, it's not up for discussion! – we're we leaving for?"

The scrawny Viking looked awed at his three friends in all of their stubborn supportive glory and fire glinted in his forest-green eyes as the Toothless-shaped hole in his chest felt like it was starting to inch closer. "To Balaton Lake, in the land of the Majar."

Vihra had no idea who she was dealing with.


	22. Chapter 21

**A/N: Alfully short, sorry. Includes a small part that resembles one from LotR.**

* * *

"So," Jack began, "do you want to know why I was leaning over you, Hiccup? When you woke up and we butted heads?" He snickered at the pun and did a loop-de-loop. "And why we're going in the direction we were going before…"

The Guardian was flying beside the balaur who carried the other three on his back and Angus in his paws; it was the cold hour before dawn and the night chill bit harshly at the exposed skin on their faces (not that it affected Jack).

Hiccup made himself more comfortable between the necks of two of Windcatcher's heads. "You know, I really do want to know, I think my headache warranted it…"

Jack grinned at him. "Don't get all martyr, my head suffered too! You Vikings have thick sculls."

"And don't I know it," the brunette muttered to himself, gesturing for the Winter Spirit to go on.

"Anyway, soon after y'all fell asleep I noticed this patch of moonlight – Manny was shining through a hole in the cave roof. I figured it was a message so I watched the light and honestly, you won't believe what it said!"

"Whut?" Merida prodded impatiently, Hiccup immediately added: "Don't keep us in the dark."

"Do you _like_ creating suspense?" Rapunzel accused with a good-natured smile.

"If you'd let me speak," Jack said with a grin, "I'll tell you." His face turned serious then. "Manny told me we'd been going in the wrong direction – we should've been travelling southwards."

"But that sign…" Rapunzel couldn't understand. "That sign said- Wait a minute, it said-"

"So you it _had_ been a trap!" Merida realised. "A trap she'd expected us ta fall in, that's why she put da wrong directions!"

"But _are_ they the correct directions though?" Jack nodded 'yes' to Hiccup's question and the brunette sighed. "Hm, that shepherd _wasn't_ in his right mind after all."

"It doesn't matter, now we know the way and as soon as we have Toothless back we'll deal with Vihra." Jack said in the voice one uses to say 'I swear it'. "Can you imagine, we've been travelling towards him all along!"

"So that's why we bumped heads," Hiccup suddenly realised, "you were trying to wake me up!" Jack nodded. "Well, I beat you to it, didn't I?" the Viking snickered. "Sorry."

But he didn't sound sorry at all so that earned him a snowball to the face.

* * *

"Why did Windcatcher land here?" Rapunzel asked, looking around; the only things that could be seen were the pinkish pre-dawn sky above and the scattered hills around them.

"I don't know," Hiccup mused as he patted the ruby-red balaur, "maybe he sensed danger."

Merida _hmm_ ed. "Danger ye say? I think I'll go look around a bit. Ye commin', Jack?"

"'Course." And the two were gone in no time.

It hadn't been five minutes when they returned though, both panting as if they'd been running. Merida bent to catch her breath as Jack, who'd mostly recovered, informed the other two that "Windcatcher's flair was spot on! We saw a winged deer just behind those hills!"

"You mean a deer like the ones veelas ride?" Rapunzel asked for clarification. When Jack nodded she _hmm_ ed. "To be fair, Vihra _is_ a veela-witch."

"But what would that deer be doing here? We've never even seen her ride one…" Hiccup mused aloud.

"'Twas… 'twas guardin' somethin'," Merida managed to pant out, "'twas pacin' back an' forth in front o' a stone wall."

"What could it possibly be-" And then it dawned on Rapunzel. "How do we get through that door?"

"Door?" Jack repeated. "You mean the wa- Oh, now I got it."

"I've had my fair share of hidden gates and secret doors," Hiccup declared, "and you either solve the riddle or knock it down. But that will come later, what we need to take care of is the deer."

"I think…" Despite all her efforts Merida's breading was still a bit shallow. "I think ye needn' worry fer that either. Or ye forgot who ye're with?" As if to emphasise her words, Windcatcher crooned with his twelve voices. Jack grinned in a slightly foreboding way.

"Let's get Toothless back, shall we?"

Getting rid of the deer wasn't all that hard, as it turned out – all it took was a roar from the balaur (who'd even spread his heads like a fan, what a character!) and the deer was flying away.

"Well, that was easy…" Rapunzel muttered suspiciously. Vihra never let them off that effortlessly, where was the catch? However, the others didn't seem to be on the same page as they were all crowded around the wall-slash-door; the blonde supposed the reasons for her concern could be easily overlooked because Hiccup looked almost ready to tear down the dark stone bit by bit with his bare hands.

"Does anyone see a keyhole or something?" he asked. Jack and Merida shook their heads but Rapunzel had the eyes of a painter – she was good at noticing subtle changes of colour and shade and that's exactly why it was her who noticed.

"Up there," she pointed, "there's a circular stone! It's black, a bit darker than the wall, maybe it's the keyhole."

"You think?"

She nodded at Hiccup. "I don't see it very well, but I'm almost sure it's a haematite, a stone that's famous for its defence properties."

"All da more sense ta put it as a lock," Merida mused. "D'we touch it ta open da door?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't have other ideas, so…" He flew to the upper side of the wall and pressed his cold fingers to the dark stone. Beautiful frostwork spread over its surface but none of the four saw, for an ancient voice spoke.

" _Koe e nai-vsevlastnoto v sveta?_ "

The three immediately looked to the Guardian. "Please tell me you understood that!" Rapunzel pleaded.

"Yeah, I did…"

Jack's furrowed eyebrows prompted another question, but from the Viking. "What bugs you then?"

"Well, it's not in the language of the Majar, it's in Bulgarian."

"Bulgarian?" the brunette repeated. "So there's no doubt that Vihra…"

"I'd say so," Jack agreed, I can't make sense of the riddle though. 'What is most powerful in the world?' There're, like, a million answers!"

"Yeah, it depends on the person, how're we supposed to-"

"Punzie," Hiccup interrupted her, "you're a genius! We have to figure out the most powerful thing for Vihra and the door will open!"

"Oh, it's easy then," Merida declared. "Jack, how d'ye say 'fear' in Bulgarian?"

The spirit's face lit up and he all but shouted out "Strah!" The pitch-black haematite briefly flashed in gold, then a crack crept down the smooth stone of the wall. When it reached the ground a tremor shook it and the stone broke along the crack, forming the two wings of a door; they swung forward with a loud noise and opened, accompanied by a cloud of dust.

The four silently stared at the opening. After a while Hiccup spoke up. "I'm not asking you to go inside."

Merida snorted. "Good, would've wacked ye upside da head if ye did." The Viking dropped his head with a smile.

"Thanks, guys."

Jack hid his grin as he took a wooden stick from the ground and lifted it so that Windcatcher could light it to use as a torch. Rapunzel just smiled.

"Let's go inside."

"Alright," Jack said. "You hold the torch though, I don't really care for fire…" The blonde rolled her eyes but took the lit stick and in the four went. (Windcatcher was too big to fit through the doorway; as for Angus and Pascal, they simply refused to enter.)

The quartet had been walking in silence for about two minutes when Merida piped up: "D'ye know whut's at da end o' da corridor?"

Hiccup didn't even turn back as he briskly answered: "Yes."

"It might not be like your nightmares," Rapunzel tried to reassure him, "it might just be-"

Suddenly a tremor shook the stone walls, making the four stumble. The blonde lost her footing and almost fell on the floor. Jack managed to catch her, but she dropped the torch which fell in a small puddle and the flame was extinguished with a hiss. And then-

Darkness – it was all around him, darkness and cold damp stones. He ran, desperately following the tunnel's way, sometimes turned right and sometimes left but mostly just rushed straight ahead. He could hear more feet pattering behind, voices calling, but couldn't be bothered, not when he knew his best friend was at the end of the corridor. So he kept on running, faster and faster, until he couldn't hear the others anymore. All that could be heard now was the pounding of his footsteps, the repetitive _clang, clang_ of his peg leg, the occasional splash when he stepped in a puddle and, most of all, his heavy breaths and the thunderous beating of his heart.

After an eternity of running he finally reached the archway. He knew what was on its other side, so he rushed through it and into the great echoing chamber that was filled with strange greenish light. In its very centre was his best friend, chained and muzzled like before the battle with the Red Death.

"Toothless!" he gasped, ran to the dragon and embraced him. The Night Fury crooned happily and tried, even with the chains, to nuzzle in his rider. He laughed. "Missed you too, bud…"

He heard a faint sound, gradually increasing – footsteps. However, his vision didn't get blurry the closer they got, on the contrary – the voices calling his name were as clear as ever. Could it be that this wasn't a dream? Was he not about to helplessly witness Toothless' death?

"Hiccup, ye found him!"

A gasp. "Why would she muzzle him?! That _monster_!"

"Whoa there, Punzie, calm down…" A cold hand on his shoulder. "You alright, buddy?"

Hiccup nodded weakly. "I-I just… It was so much like those nightmares, I was sure it would end in the same way…"

"With us drownin'?" Merida asked; Jack shuddered at her words. Rapunzel though smiled.

"I told you it might not be like that and it wasn't, was it? Everything's fine!"

"Yeah, it is actually…" The easy grin quickly returned to the spirit's face despite the second tremor that shook the chamber. "Unless we count the fact that I can't make anything of what Manny told you about a Balathrone lake or whatever, because I haven't encountered anything bigger than a puddle since we got here, we finally had some luck for once!"

And then, of course, the ceiling caved in and it all went to hell.


	23. Chapter 22

**A/N: Sorry for being late, the chapter took longer than anticipated. Hopefully you'll still enjoy it. Also, I apologise in advance for any spelling errors, I haven't typed this in a MS Word document before to copy'n'paste it here, so no spellcheck for me this time. I'll check it whenever I have the time.  
**

 **LATER EDIT: I've corrected the mistakes. (They were so many, I was cringing for five whole minutes! How do people LIVE without spellcheck?!)**

* * *

Just as Jack's words left his mouth a large stoneslab fell from the ceiling a couple of feet shy of crushing the four and the dragon; to make matters worse, water began pouring in through the hole, and horrifyingly fast at that.

"We're under da lake!" Merida yelledover the rumble of the water, "We gotta free Toothless an' get out quickly!"

They all rushed to try and tear off the chains, but the water was already waist-high and Jack couldn't frost over the metal to break it, for they risked freezing it; just the spirit's touch made thin ice creep over its surface, so he flew out of it and hovered near the ceilinginstead. The other three pulled with all they had but, try as they might, they couldn't do much. The water level was mercilessly rising and the dark depths soon covered Toothless entirely. Memories of his dream mixed with those from two years prior flooded Hiccup's mind and fierce determination not to feel useless overtook him; then right after that, as if ignited by it, and idea came to him. So he took a deep breath and, to the girls' utter horror, dived into the cold depths.

The Viking heard neither Rapunzel and Merida's cries, nor Jack's worried beckoning, only the water pounding in his ears. It was dark down there, but he somehow managed to find Toothless. Once he had a hold of his dragon, Hiccup bent to his feet and took of his prosthetic; he used the wooden stump to knock out the nails that held the chains. His mind was becoming fuzzy because he didn't have breath anymore, but somehow he willed his hand to keep working. When he knocked out the last nail, he was starting to black out; the moment he did, though, large paws grabbed him - next thing he knew, he was above the surface, lying on a small stone ledge and coughing up water.

"Hiccup!" A cold chill blew past him. "You're alright! No, no Toothless, don't- I might freeze you..." The brunette finally recovered enough to actually _look_ ; it was a bad idea - the chamber was almost full of water by now, a pretty hopeless sight. But Jack was hovering nearby and the girls' heads could be seen not too far away and Toothless was alright, so it was at least a tiny bit of comfort.

"Guys, we need to get out!" Rapunzel yelled. It was as if she'd broken a spell - the boys both shook off their thoughts, having been pulled back to reality; and good thing they were, because it wouldn't be long before the water swallowed what little space there was left.

"Right," Jack nodded, "I have an idea, but I don't know if-"

"Go fer it!" Merida interrupted; the spirit closed his mouth and with a wave of his staff created a boat-like ice structure. Hiccup and Toothless hurried inside and helped the girls in it too.

"So far, so good," Hiccup praised, raising his eyes to the Guardian, "now what?"

Jack looked down to him. "We need to blast the ceiling."

"Okay, now?" At the spirit's nod he shouted: "Toothless, plasma blast!"

In the space of a second the purple-blue blast hit the stones of the ceiling and tore them down; water rushed in through the new, larger hole just as Jack morphed the icy boat to a full sphere. The new waters collided heavily with the bubble-like structure, but it stayed intact and, once the whole chamber was filled, floated upwards until it broke through the lake's surface. Their problems, however, didn't end, for they could hardly see the coastal line; they were stranded in the midst of a vast lake that they assumed was called Balathon.

Just as despair was beginning to drown them, large claws grabbed the sphere, somehow latching onto the ice, and the five with it were lifted in the air. The brief moment of panic was followed by an enormous wave of relief when they realised the claws were Windcatcher's; thing were finally looking up. And indeed, not five minutes later, they were standing on dry land, right as rain and finally in full strength. Angus and Pascal were both delighted to be back with their humans, Jack observed, but nothing could rival Hiccup and Toothless' reunion - the brunette had practically glued himself to his dragon; he whispered small nothings from time to time, to which the Night Fury responded with cooing and nuzzling. The Guardian smiled to himself and patted on of the balaur's many heads. Those two in front of him weren't just friends, they were brothers and it showed.

Soon though a thought that'd been nagging him since they touched land all but screamed in his head. It was the rational part of his brain, which was hurling every bit of sense within its reach his way, and in the form of the two syllables that were almost a thread - Vihra.

 _Vihra?_ he thought. And then, in a moment of clarity, _Right, she's still a danger!_

"Guys, we'd better leave," he beckoned. Rapunzel raised her head.

"You're right, we only have four days and that's counting today."

"'S not only about that." The blonde knitted her eyebrows.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm worried, you know? Vihra's literally _this_ close to us." And he showed two fingers that were almost touching.

"I wouldn' worry too much 'bout that," Merida cut in. "Ye know she usually does sumethin' an' leaves us, I don' know id it's sadistic or jus' lazy o' her. I don' think she'll come fer us, not yet at least."

"Hm," Jack agreed, "you're probably right. I'm not keen on taking risks though. Let's just go, shall we?"

"S'pose we should. Like Punzie said, we only've four days."

The blonde smiled at the Scot. "We'll be faster now though, won't we? We have Toothless back and there's also Windcatcher. All in all, I think we'll make it on time."

The Guardian sighed. "Touch wood..."

* * *

That day and the one after it were spent in almost restless travelling. Thankfully, now they knew which way to go (God bless that kind old couple!) so it was one less worry. And despite the full moon drawing scarily near, their journey became lighter - there was the remaining giddy happiness from finally finding Toothless, for one thing, and the road and the warmer climate too helped lift their mood. As per the directions they'd received, the quartet and their animal companions followed the bed of a great river that ran to the south-east; this resulted in the most beautiful scenery they'd ever seen - for all their experience in travel, none of the four had fared through a defile and that's exactly where they went through on the 12th day after the new moon. High wooded hills bordered the narrow but deep river beneath the two dragons' wings, making for a breath-taking sight in blues, greens, browns and yellows after every turn. When night eventually fell, the travellers camped beneath a rock that unknown forces had shaped like a man's face.

It was now past midday on the day before the full moon and, as the least strange-looking, Merida had gone in the small town by the great river with Jack to ask for directions. (The locals would be far less put off by her crazy curls than they'd be by a metal leg or 70ft's worth of hair. Even if it _was_ braided.) Upon their return the two brought back good news - they were on Bulgarian land already and the road to Rila Mountain - Vihra's home, their final destination - lied almost straight south - through the big plain, a mountain chain and then anoter, smaller plain.

"... All in all, we're supposed to reach the foot of the mountain at about midnight if we don't stop." Jack finished. Merida nodded.

"Let's go then, no point in wastin'- whut's up with ye two?"

Hiccup and Rapunzel started, having zoned off. "Well..." they began together, stopped upon realising it and looked at one another; the Viking gestured for her to go first.

"Well, it's just that... Windcatcher seems a bit homesick, doesn't he?" Jack and Merida looked at the balaur. His twelve heads were turned to the north, staring longingly across the river to what the four had learned was the Romanian shore, his homeland; they turned back with heavy hearts.

"I was about to say exactly the same!" Hiccup exclaimed. The blonde turned to him.

"So you noticed too?" He nodded.

"But whut d'we do 'bout him?" Merida asked.

They looked to the creature once more, then Jack murmured: "We let him go."

"He doesn't have to come with us," Hiccup agreed.

"An' he didn' have ta help us in da first place," the redhead remarked with a nod.

"We shouldn't tear him from his home," Rapunzel spoke as well.

So they bid Windcatcher goodbye, letting him go, and continued through the plain like they'd travelled before - the spirit in the wind's embrace, the Scot - on Angus' saddle, the blonde and the brunette - on Toothless' back (and Pascal was, as always, on Rapunzel's shoulder, using a golden lock as a life-rope). As the day drawled towards its end, however, a faint dread crept in their beings. The combination of rapidly goldening sunlight from the west and the blue-grey-black clouds swirling towards them from the south, complete with the occasional lightning, did little to quail it; and so it was that when the angry clouds threatened to swallow the three airborne and the dragon, they swooped down towards the ground and joined Merida. But it wasn't five minutes before a new challenge was blown their way - or, rather, _blew_ their way. Strong, too strong, gale-force winds whipped at them, halting their footsteps, pushing them backwards and threatening to tear the hair out of their scalps; but the group ploughed on.

When ten minutes had passed and they still hadn't turned tails and ran back, an unearthly screech of fury filled the stormy air, drowning out the howl of the blowing wind. In a heartbeat the gales calmed, the air turned still and the clouds and fog cleared - to reveal the figure of the seething Vihra. " **Annoying pests!** " she screamed at them, her face ugly with hatred, " **Now you'll see my real power!** " And she threw her hand at the four, letting out a desert-sandstorm-like wave of blackness.

Merida felt as if she saw everything in slow motion. At first the force sped towards them and she could do nothing, nothing! Then chill crept in her body when a hand pressed itself to her upper arm. That hand pushed at her forcefully. Strongly. She lost balance and fell for what felt like hours. Just when she hit the ground she heard the buzzing of the black magic as it passed above her, leaving her untouched.

Three cries of helplessness, terror even. Her blood ran cold. She looked up, in time to see the force colliding with the other three. They stumbled back, their faces ashen grey, and as they fell their whole beings darkened. They were knocked asleep before they hit the ground.

The redhead whirled around to the veela-witch who'd composed herself; the usual leering grin was curling her purple-and-black-spots lips. "Whut'd'ye do ta them?!" the girl demanded, scrambling up. Vihra rose an eyebrow.

"Would've been more fun had I gotten you as well, but whatever. So do you like it then? I myself am quite proud, it is, after all, my greatest power - **the fear**. They are locked in their most terrifying nightmares, cursed to endure them over and over again, **and they're never escaping**."

"I'll get them outta there," Merida argued, fighting the desperation that was trying to creep in her voice, "They're mah friends!"

Vihra smirked. " **Oh, but they're not yours anymore - they belong to their fears.** But please, oh brave Scottish princess, **try** to take them!" She burst in her howl-like laughter and disappeared in a black whirlwind.


	24. Not a chapter (I'm sorry)

I regret having to say this, but I'm putting this story on a hiatus (the lack of updates must've suggested so already). It's not that I don't know where to go with it, because I do - however, I have neither the inspiration nor the time to actually write it and post it. I'm also practically buried under work for school, a contest I'm participating in and an exam I'm aiming to take and all these require reading specific books; so all activities that are not to do with any of these three will have to wait till about the summer (or May, hopefully). As soon as I'm updating again I'll erase this chapter-not-chapter. Once again, sorry.


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